Poor Little Rich Girl
by x-OmgItsRach-x
Summary: Ashley A is basically a spoilt brat. But when a fire destroys her house and kills her family, she has to live with the Spinellis. Will Ashley A be a spoilt brat for the rest of her life? Or will a normal family change her for the better? COMPLETE!
1. A Day In The Life Of Ashley Armbuster

**Welcome to my fourth fanfic, Poor Little Rich Girl. Enjoy.**

Monday March 16th

Ashley Armbuster was woken up at five thirty in the morning by Harold, her butler, holding a tray that had a cup of herbal tea on it.

"Good morning, Miss Armbuster. Your herbal tea is here," Harold said politely.

"Thankyou, Harold," Ashley A. said, sitting up in bed. Harold placed the herbal tea carefully on her bedside table. Ashley A. drank it and smiled. _Nothing like a cup of herbal tea to wake you up in the morning_, she thought to herself, getting out of her pink four-poster bed.

Harold opened Ashley A's pink curtains and looked at the sky. "A glorious day," he said.

Ashley A. had a long, warm, bubbly bath Harold had run for her and took half an hour to wash her long, blonde hair. Then she returned to her room.

Ashley A's room was very big, but she wished it was bigger. She had pink walls and a pink carpet, and it was very tidy. She had pink curtains, a pink four poster bed and a chandelier. She had a white walk-in closet and in one corner of the room was a pink dog bed, in which her white toy poodle, Paris, slept.

Ashley A. had five pictures in her room, all in golden frames on the same wall. Four of the pictures were quite small, and one was huge. All four pictures were professional shots. The first small one was of Paris as a puppy- she looked adorable, small and white and fluffy, wearing a pink ribbon. The second small one was of the whole Armbuster family a couple of years ago, when Ashley was thirteen, her little brother Tyler was eleven and her little sister Brittany was nine. The whole family had blond hair and were wearing expensive, formal clothes. The third small picture was of Ashley A. and her three best friends- the other Ashleys. All four were wearing the same dress but in different colours- Ashley Q's was blue, Ashley B's was yellow, Ashley T's was green and Ashley A's was, of course, pink. All four best friends were pouting at the camera. The fourth and final small picture was of Ashley A. winning the Little Miss Blush beauty pageant in third grade, holding the trophy and looking extremely glamorous for an eight-year-old. The big picture was of Ashley A on her own, she looked just like a model on it, and her family had told her it was good enough to be on the front cover of a magazine. Ashley A. was extremely pleased when they'd said this- Ashley A. longed to be a model, just like the other three Ashleys. From an early age, all four of them had been completely obsessed with fashion and beauty. The Ashleys had stayed friends right through middle school and now, in their sophomore year, they were still pretty much the same as they were in fourth grade; rich, beautiful, popular. The way it had always been. They were all on the cheerleading squad and they were all dating popular guys on the basketball team- Ashley Q. was dating Rob (formerly King Bob, he'd decided to start calling himself Rob as he entered his teenage years), Ashley B. was dating Johnny V., Ashley T. was dating Vince and Ashley A. was dating Lawson- although deep down she had no feelings for him whatsoever.

It took her until 6:50 to dry and straighten her hair, and then put on her clothes, which she'd carefully picked out the night before; a pink halter top, a black miniskirt and pink, knee-high boots with a six-inch heel. She went downstairs to have breakfast with Tyler and Brittany- her parents had already gone to work, her mother was a model and her father owned a chain of successful beauty salons. Ashley, Tyler and Brittany didn't see much of their parents because they worked so much- in fact, they probably saw Harold more than they saw their parents. They ate croissants around the table in the dining room.

At seven, she went back upstairs to brush her teeth and apply her makeup. Ashley A. always wore a lot of makeup- foundation, mascara, eyeliner (only a little, though), pink glittery eyeshadow and a pink lipgloss pout.

She carefully examined herself in her golden, full-length mirror. It had the word 'Beautiful' carved into it in swirly lettering, and it was true- Ashley A. _was_ beautiful.

It was 7:10 when Ashley A. got in Harold's car- it was big, black and expensive, with blacked out windows. Ashley, Tyler and Brittany sat in the back on the white, comfortable leather seats. All three of them went to different schools- Ashley was a sophomore in high school, Tyler was in eighth grade at middle school and would be starting high school next year, and Brittany still attended Third Street- she was now a sixth grader, and the playground was now ruled by King Hector. It was weird to think that he was now king- he'd only been in second grade when Ashley was in sixth grade herself. Growing up was scary, Ashley decided.

They arrived at Second Street High School at 7:20. School didn't start until 7:30, so Ashley A. had time to find the other Ashleys and have an early morning gossip. Ashley A. got out of her car and saw Spinelli and TJ Detweiler walking up the path towards the school.

"Morning, Spinugly, morning, Dorkweiler," Ashley A. said automatically in a mean tone of voice.

"Get lost, Powderpuff," Spinelli said, replying by instinct. They'd hated each other for so long, insulting each other came naturally to both of them.

Ashley A. found the other Ashleys hanging out with Lawson, Rob, Vince and Johnny in the corridor. She greeted Lawson with a kiss and said hi to the other Ashleys, who were all wearing the same outfit as her- but the top and shoes in different colours- Ashley Q's were blue, Ashley T's were green and Ashley B's were yellow.

"Like, guess what, Ashley A!" Ashley Q. squealed excitedly.

"Like, what, Ashley Q?" Ashley A. said.

"Daddy, like, bought me a car last night!" Ashley Q. said. She had just passed her driving test. Out of all the Ashleys, Ashley Q. was the oldest- she had her sixteenth birthday in September. Ashley T. was sixteen as well, but she'd only just had her birthday and had only just started her driving lessons. Ashley B. and Ashley A. were still fifteen- Ashley B turned sixteen in April, and Ashley A. had to wait until July. It was so unfair.

"That's, like, amazing Ashley Q!" Ashley A. said, smiling.

"It's, like, more than amazing," Ashley Q. said, "it's…"

"_Scandalous!!_" all four girls squealed together, and their boyfriends shook their heads and rolled their eyes.

"I can, like, take you all to the mall after school," Ashley Q. said, and the other three nodded.

"This is like, _so_ fabulous," Ashley B. said.

"Yeah, we can like, go shopping after school like, every night!" Ashley T. said.

It was then the bell rang.

"See you later, babe," Lawson said to Ashley A, winking at her and then walking away.

Ashley A. sighed. She really didn't like Lawson. But he was popular, and older than her. If she wanted to keep her popular status, she'd have to stay with him. Ashley A. thought he was hot, but it wasn't anything more than that; she never felt the sparks when he kissed her, when they were together, it just didn't feel… right. And what the other three Ashleys didn't know was that Ashley A. wanted someone who could make her feel special, someone to fall in love with.

School was over now, and all four Ashleys were in Ashley Q's new car; an impressive baby blue convertible, with PRINCESS as the license plate. Ashley Q was driving, of course, Ashley A. was in the passenger seat and Ashley B. and Ashley T. were in the back. 'Everytime We Touch' by Cascada was playing loudly.

"Gym class today was like, awful," Ashley T. complained. "I like, broke a nail!"

"Like, stop complaining, Ashley T," Ashley A. said, and Ashley T. shut up instantly. Ashley A. was like the unofficial leader of the Ashleys, probably because the Armbusters were a little richer than the Quinlins, the Boulets and the Toulans.

"Yeah, Ashley T, you'll like, get them redone on Wednesday," Ashley B. said. The Ashleys all had their nails done every Wednesday.

"That's, like, the day after tomorrow!" Ashley Q. reasoned. "Poor Ashley T. will like, have to go through tonight _and _tomorrow with a broken nail."

"Will you like, stop talking about your nails so we can, like, talk about my birthday party?" Ashley A. said angrily.

"It's, like, not your birthday for months, Ashley A." Ashley B. said. "It's, like, mine next."

"Yeah, but it's like, my sixteenth! It's _special_," Ashley A. said, although she knew that _all _her birthdays were special. Because _she _was special.

They arrived at the mall. Ashley Q. parked her car in the parking lot and they all got out, linked arms and walked up towards the mall.

"I'm, like, hiring out a club," Ashley A. was telling them, "And I'm arriving in, like, a horse and carriage. And Daddy's going to get Justin Timberlake to sing."

"Justin Timberlake!!" Ashley T. and Ashley B. sighed dreamily, but Ashley Q. narrowed her eyes.

"Your daddy doesn't even _know _Justin Timberlake."

"Like, yes he does! Daddy's got friends in high places."

"You're, like, totally lying Ashley A."

"Well, _my_ daddy has Mariah Carey on speed dial." Ashley B. said

"Hey, Ashleys, like, look what the cat dragged in!" Ashley T. suddenly said, disturbing Ashley A. and Ashley Q's argument.

They were standing outside a toy store, and inside that toy store, behind the counter, was Spinelli.

All four Ashleys exchanged evil smirks. "Scandalous!" They said, and they walked into the store and up to the counter.

"Ew, like, look at Spinelli. She looks even more gross than usual in that stupid uniform," Ashley A. said, and the other three squealed with laughter.

Spinelli scowled. "I know you Ashleys are a pathetic, immature bunch of babies, but I didn't think I'd ever see even _you_ in a toy store."

All four Ashleys raised their perfectly plucked eyebrows.

"If you don't wanna buy anything, then get out of here, you lowlifes," Spinelli growled.

Ashley A. laughed. "_You're_ calling _us _lowlifes? Look at you!"

"I'd, like, rather _not _look at Spinugly," Ashley T. said, and the other three laughed like hyenas again.

"If you don't wanna look at me, then fine. You can buy something or you can leave," Spinelli said.

"Like, whatever, Spinugly." Ashley B. said.

"'Like, whatever, Spinugly'?" Spinelli echoed. "Is that really the best you brats can manage?"

"That not good enough for you, Spinugly?" Ashley Q. said. "Well, like, how about you're a fat, ugly loser who'll, like, never get a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, even Dorkweiler wouldn't date you!" Ashley A. said. "I mean, like, look at you. You have to work in this pathetic little store just so your trailer trash family don't, like, starve."

Spinelli lunged for them, but they all squealed, "Scandalous!" and ran out of the store, giggling.

It was evening. Ashley A. had just had dinner with her family, and now she was at the side of the family's outdoor swimming pool, lounging on a deckchair with some iced tea in her hand. She was wearing a designer pink bikini, designer pink shades and a huge, white sunhat.

She was watching Tyler and Brittany, who were actually in the pool. They weren't actually swimming- Tyler was going down the waterslides and Brittany was lying on a pink lilo and floating around.

Harold came outside with the phone in his hand. "Miss Armbuster," he said.

"Yes?" Ashley A. and Brittany both said together.

"I meant Ashley," Harold said. "There is a Mr. Irwin Lawson on the telephone, wishing to speak with you."

Ashley A. sighed and took the phone from Harold.

"Hi, gorgeous!" Lawson's voice said on the other end.

"Hey, Lawson," Ashley A. said.

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence. There always _were _awkward silences when it came to Ashley and Lawson's phone conversations. Lawson called every night, but he never seemed to take the hint.

"So, you doing anything on Saturday?" Lawson asked.

"No."

"Good. Coz I was thinking, we should go on a date. To the movies, and for pizza."

"Uh- sure."

Uh-oh. Ashley had to think- fast. The last time they had a date, there was just a big, awkward silence between Ashley and Lawson. Probably because he was just kissing her half the time. Ashley shuddered- Lawson wasn't a great kisser.

Then she had an idea. "Like, wouldn't it be fun if we, like, made it a group date?" she said. "We can, like, invite the other Ashleys, and Johnny and Rob and Vince."

"Whatever. I love you, Ashley."

"Love you too, Lawson." Ashley said, although it was a lie. They were getting into the same routine 24/7, and it was driving her insane. "Um- see you tomorrow," Ashley said, hanging up.

However, when she went inside, her miserable mood disappeared. The living room, which had a huge flat screen TV on one wall. She sat down on the squishy white sofa and turned on the TV. Her favourite soap, Young Hearts, was on. Two of the main characters, Daniella and Zack, were having a row- Zack had been having an affair with Daniella's sister, Yasmin, and Daniella had just caught them.

"Anything I can get you, Miss Armbuster?" Harold asked.

"Yes. I would like some organic, low-fat chocolate," Ashley said.

She grinned. Great looks, popularity and a butler who got her everything she wanted. Life couldn't be any better.

_This is the life,_ Ashley thought to herself.


	2. A Day In The Life Of Ashley Spinelli

Monday March 16th

Ashley Spinelli was woken up at six in the morning by Flo, her mom, yelling at her from outside.

"ASHLEY SPINELLI, GET YOUR BUTT IN THE SHOWER **NOW** OR YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Flo screeched.

"Good morning to you too, Mom," Spinelli said, sitting up in bed. She turned her bedside radio on and 'American Idiot' by Green Day started playing. Spinelli turned the volume up to full blast and smiled. _Nothing like a great song to wake you up in the morning_, she thought to herself, getting out of her red single bed.

Spinelli opened her black curtains and looked at the sky. "Here's to an awesome day," she said.

Spinelli had a quick, cold shower- it only took her ten minutes to wash her mid-length black hair. Then she returned to her room.

Spinelli's room was quite small, but she didn't mind. She had black walls, and you couldn't even see the floor, it was so messy. She had black curtains, a red single bed and her light had a red bulb in it, which had a really cool effect. Her closet was made of dark wood, and in one corner of the room was her red guitar; she'd been learning to play since she was eleven and she was getting pretty good now.

Spinelli had a whole wall of pictures in her room. There were posters of a few of her favourite bands- Blink 182, Evanescence, Green Day, Linkin Park and Paramore, and posters of her favourite wrestlers and skateboarders. Spinelli loved drawing and a lot of her artwork was up on the wall too; both portraits of her family and friends and made up cartoon figures. There were loads of photos, too; various photo of her family standing outside the cottage they always stayed at over Christmas, year after year after year. A photo of her with her guitar on the day she got it. A photo of her brother Joey cradling her on the day she was born; he was just two and a half at the time, he was now nineteen and had left home, Spinelli missed him tons. There were pictures of Spinelli with her friends, too; loads of pictures of her new friends, Sam and Dave (formerly The Diggers), Ruby (formerly Upside Down Girl) and Kate (formerly Swinger Girl). She only had one picture of the whole gang from Third Street, taken by Hustler Kid on the last day of fourth grade of the whole gang standing in front of Old Rusty. But sadly the gang went their separate ways; Gus got relocated in sixth grade and Spinelli never saw him again, Vince became a jock and Mikey got heavily involved in drama. Spinelli remained friends with Gretchen throughout middle school and freshman year, however at the end of freshman year Gretchen got transferred to a school for geniuses and they only spoke about once a week. Spinelli had, however, stayed friends with TJ; he too was part of Spinelli's new friendship group. Spinelli could trust TJ with her life. She told him everything; well, apart from her love life. Because _he_ was the one she had a huge crush on. It had been that way since fourth grade, and now they were in sophomore year that crush just got stronger.

It took her five minutes to dry her hair, and then she put on her clothes, which she'd chosen on the spot; a purple tye-dye T-Shirt with black skinny jeans and black Converse. She went downstairs to have breakfast with Bob and Flo, her parents. Bob was a mechanic and Flo was a waitress at a café. They ate cereal in front of the TV- Bob and Flo liked to watch the news in the morning. They talked about a lot of things- Spinelli liked her parents, they were embarrassing sometimes, but at least they were around a lot.

At 6:45, she went back upstairs to brush her teeth and apply her makeup. She only wore a little bit of makeup- concealer when she had a spot, and black eyeliner- but nothing more than that.

She quickly glanced at herself in her wall mirror. She'd never really been bothered about her appearance- but now, she started worrying about how she looked when TJ was around. She sighed- she would never be good enough for TJ, but it couldn't be helped.

It was 6:50 when Spinelli left the house. She walked to school- since she was sixteen, she could have driving lessons, but her family couldn't afford them at the minute, and she had to work after school and on Saturdays to save up to learn to drive and buy a car. But Spinelli didn't mind, because she walked to school with TJ.

Her and TJ lived four doors down from each other. Spinelli walked down the street and knocked on TJ's door. TJ hadn't changed at all since he left Third Street- except he'd grown taller and he wasn't as stocky. He was still obsessed with Senior Fusion, he still wore his backwards red baseball cap, he still had a crush on Spinelli. But she had no idea that he did. They walked down the street together, chatting about things. On their way to school, they passed Third Street School, their elementary school, and the memories flooded back to them. Apparently, Hector was king now. It was weird to think that he was now king- he'd only been in second grade when they were in sixth grade theirselves. Growing up was scary, Spinelli decided.

They arrived at Second Street High School at 7:20. School didn't start until 7:30, so Spinelli and TJ had time to find Ruby, Kate, Sam, Dave and Francis and talk.

They saw Ashley A. walk up the path.

"Morning, Spinugly, morning, Dorkweiler," Ashley A. said automatically in a mean tone of voice.

"Get lost, Powderpuff," Spinelli said, replying by instinct. They'd hated each other for so long, insulting each other came naturally to both of them.

"Hey, Spinelli! TJ! Over here!" came the voice of Kate, who was standing with Ruby, Sam and Dave.

"Hey, guys!" TJ said brightly.

There was a chorus of hellos.

"Hey TJ, Spinelli, guess what!" Ruby said, looking happier than they'd seen her in ages. "Dave asked me out last night and I said yes!"

"Awesome!" TJ said.

"Congratulations," Spinelli said, grinning. Dave and Ruby had liked each other for ages, just been too shy to admit it. Kate and Sam were already going out and had been for nearly three weeks now.

"So we're going to the movies and then for pizza on Saturday, on a double date," Sam said. "Me and Kate, Dave and Ruby. You two can come with us if you want."

"As friends," Spinelli and TJ said at the same time.

The other four exchanged glances, then the bell rang.

"Well, see you later," TJ said; he, Sam and Dave were in a different homeroom to the girls, who waved and walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.

"So, Spinelli, when are you gonna tell TJ?" Ruby asked.

"Tell TJ what?" Spinelli said.

"You _know _what," Kate smirked.

"No, I don't." Spinelli snapped.

"That you like him!" Kate said, tossing back her wavy red hair.

"I don't like TJ!"

Kate and Ruby raised their eyebrows.

"It's true! We're just friends. Nothing more."

"There's no such thing as 'just friends'," Ruby said.

"Yeah there is!" Spinelli argued. "I've had plenty of _other _guy friends. In elementary school, I was friends with Gus, Mikey and Vince. Now I'm friends with Sam and Dave. No one's ever thought anything was going on between me and any of _them_."

"Look, Spinelli. There's a very thin line between 'just friends' and liking each other," Kate said. "You never crossed that line with any of your other guy friends. But you're _way_ beyond the line with TJ. You have been since that experiment in fourth grade."

"You're talking trash." Spinelli scorned. "Since when did you two become boy experts anyway?"

"Spinelli!" Ruby sighed. "TJ likes you. You like TJ. It doesn't take an expert to work _that _out."

School was over now, and Spinelli was at the mall, behind the counter in a toy store. She worked here on Saturday afternoons and for a few hours after school each night.

She didn't really like her job that much. She would rather spend her Saturdays watching TV, hanging out with her friends or going to the skate park. But it couldn't be helped. Her family weren't exactly rich- and if she ever wanted to drive then she needed to work. Even at home, she only got her allowance if she helped with the chores- washing the car, doing the dishes, watering the plants, vacuuming the living room floor.

Spinelli didn't actually know what she _did _want to do when she left school, and it was kind of scaring her- after this semester was finished, she'd only have two more years until graduation. She'd have to make her mind up soon. She would probably try to get a career in art or music. She _really _wanted to make a band- she'd already written some songs, but she couldn't sing at all.

Spinelli sighed- even though she knew it was never going to happen, it would be amazing to be the lead guitarist in a band- if she closed her eyes she could see herself on the stage, playing her guitar, while tens of thousands of fans roared adoringly in the audience…

"Hello?" A little boy said, and Spinelli sighed. She was back in the real world, and the real world was in this toy store, behind the counter, putting this little boy's new action figure in a plastic bag for him to take home.

Spinelli sighed. The one good thing about working here- besides the money- was that as it was a toy store, no one she knew would see her- the store's uniform looked awful on her, it was a red polo shirt and a red cap with the store's logo on it. But no one she knew would walk into a toy store, so she would have nothing to worry about.

Or so she thought.

She heard the word "Scandalous!" and sighed, as all four Ashleys walked in, grinning evilly.

"Ew, like, look at Spinelli. She looks even more gross than usual in that stupid uniform," Ashley A. said, and the other three squealed with laughter.

Spinelli scowled. "I know you Ashleys are a pathetic, immature bunch of babies, but I didn't think I'd ever see even _you_ in a toy store."

All four Ashleys raised their perfectly plucked eyebrows.

"If you don't wanna buy anything, then get out of here, you lowlifes," Spinelli growled.

Ashley A. laughed. "_You're_ calling _us _lowlifes? Look at you!"

"I'd, like, rather _not _look at Spinugly," Ashley T. said, and the other three laughed like hyenas again.

"If you don't wanna look at me, then fine. You can buy something or you can leave," Spinelli said.

"Like, whatever, Spinugly." Ashley B. said.

"'Like, whatever, Spinugly'?" Spinelli echoed. "Is that really the best you brats can manage?"

"That not good enough for you, Spinugly?" Ashley Q. said. "Well, like, how about you're a fat, ugly loser who'll, like, never get a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, even Dorkweiler wouldn't date you!" Ashley A. said. "I mean, like, look at you. You have to work in this pathetic little store just so your trailer trash family don't, like, starve."

Spinelli lunged for them, but they all squealed, "Scandalous!" and ran out of the store, giggling.

It was evening. Spinelli had just had dinner with her family, and now she was in her room, practising guitar. She was so wrapped up in it that she didn't even hear someone knocking on her door, three times.

Suddenly, the door opened, and TJ walked in. "Sounding good," he said, grinning.

"TJ!" Spinelli shrieked, putting her guitar down. "Don't just barge into my room like that! I could have been indecent!"

TJ blushed a little. "Well, I did knock. Three times. Ain't my fault you couldn't hear me."

Spinelli flopped down onto the bed. Since that encounter with the Ashleys at work, Spinelli had forgotten all about what Kate and Ruby said to her about her and TJ. But now TJ was here, it all came back to her.

As if TJ could read her mind, he said, "Sam and Dave were grilling me a bit this morning. Saying that we were more than just friends."

Spinelli nodded. "Yeah. Kate and Ruby were doing the same."

"Isn't it _annoying _when people do that?" TJ said, and Spinelli smiled weakly. They talked about how annoying it was when people thought boys and girls couldn't just be friends for a while, until Spinelli found she didn't want to talk about it more. Because deep down, she wanted to be _more _than just friends with TJ, and hearing TJ say otherwise hurt her.

"You wanna watch TV?"

"Yeah, sure!"

As they went downstairs and sat on the sofa, Spinelli's miserable mood disappeared. They put their feet up on the coffee table. Beanie McChimp was on. Even though they were both sixteen, they would never be too old for cartoons.

"Anything I can get you guys?" Bob Spinelli asked.

"Ice cream, please," Spinelli said.

She grinned. Great friends, great family and the ability to stand up for herself. Life couldn't be any better.

_This is the life, _Spinelli thought to herself.

**Sorry if those chapters were a bit too long. I suppose I got carried away. I just wanted to get across the fact that Ashley A is a rich, spoiled brat, and Spinelli comes from a normal family and has to work hard to get money. That's important in the story. And the real story starts in the next chapter.**


	3. The Night That Changed Everything

It was Saturday- the day that Ashley A. and her friends were going on their group date, as were Spinelli and her friends.

The Ashleys were all over at Ashley B's house, getting ready for the date. All the Ashleys had had their hair styled professionally and were putting on their dresses- backless, strapless, tight dresses, all matching but in different colours: Ashley A's was pink, Ashley Q's was blue, Ashley T's was green and Ashley B's was yellow. The other three Ashleys were sleeping over tonight, so they had all their overnight stuff with them, and their dogs were asleep on quilted yellow cushions with Ashley B's own dog, London.

"So, last night, we like, signed London up to a dog modelling agency," Ashley B. was telling them. They all had little dogs named after European capital cities- Ashley A's was a white toy poodle named Paris, Ashley T's was a black toy poodle named Rome, Ashley B's was a King Charles Spaniel named London and Ashley Q's was a Chihuahua named Madrid.

"Like, wow!" Ashley T. said.

"London is like, so totally adorable," Ashley Q. said.

"Well, Paris has already been a coverdog like, five times," Ashley A. said snootily. The other three Ashleys rolled their eyes- Ashley A. always had to be the best one, the one who stole everyone else's glory.

"Hey, girls, I've like, had an idea!" Ashley T. said. "Let's, like, find the Ashley Book!"

"Like, that's a great idea Ashley T!" Ashley Q. said.

"I think I've, like, got the book here!" Ashley B. said, looking around her tidy yellow bedroom, which was similar to Ashley A's, but yellow instead of pink, and maybe a tiny bit smaller.

"Like, here it is!" Ashley B. announced, taking a purple notebook out of a drawer and opening it.

"We haven't, like, looked at this since, like, last year!" Ashley Q. said excitedly.

"This is, like, the Ashley Bible!" Ashley T. squealed.

The first page contained the Seven Golden Rules of the Ashleys:

_You must be beautiful._

_You must be rich._

_You must be popular._

_You must be named Ashley._

_You must say the word 'like' whenever possible._

_You can only date boys on the list of Ashley Approved Boys._

_You must follow this book._

"What's, like, on the next page, Ashley T?" Ashley A. asked.

Ashley T. flipped the page over. "It's, like, the list of Ashley Approved Boys!" she said, and started to read. "_Irwin Lawson, Rob Brown, Johnny Valentine, Vince Lassell…_"

"Boring!" Ashley A. said. "What's next?"

Ashley T. turned the page. "Like, omigosh! It's the Predictions Page!"

"Of course! We, like, did this in the last week of sixth grade!" Ashley Q. said. "It was what we thought everyone would, like, be like in, like, the future."

Ashley B. grinned. "I'd, like, forgotten all about this," she said.

"_Gretchen Grundler, will like, remain a geek forever and get transferred to a geek school before she's sixteen_", Ashley T. read, and laughed. "That one, like, came true!"

"Here's another one that came true," Ashley B. said, "_Randall Weens is, like, a total loser and will never have any friends_," she read.

"This one didn't," Ashley Q. said, reading: "_Mikey Blumberg is, like, so gay, even if he thinks we don't know it yet. He'll, like, admit it in high school._"

"Isn't he, like, dating Kurst?" Ashley T. said.

"Yeah," Ashley A. scoffed, "but there's still time."

Everyone laughed.

"Neither did this one," Ashley B. said, "_Kurst the Worst will, like, remain a fat bully the rest of her life._"

"But, she's like, all soppy and into poetry now!" Ashley Q. said.

"Yeah," said Ashley T. added, "and she's lost, like, tons of weight."

"Hey, like, look at this one!" Ashley A. said. "_Spinelli and TJ are, like, the perfect couple, in a 'losers should stick together' kind of way, and they will, like, get together in the summer after sophomore year_!"

"Like, now I think about it, they'd be, like, perfect for each other!" Ashley Q. said.

"Of course, in the 'losers should stick together' kind of way," Ashley A. said, and the four Ashleys giggled.

"SCANDALOUS!"

* * *

Spinelli had just finished work at the toy store. She'd changed from her uniform back into her normal clothes and was meeting Kate and Ruby at Kate's house to

She walked over to Kate's house, where they were all getting ready for the group date. When she got there, Kate had a face pack on and Ruby had her blond hair in rollers.

"Hey, Spin," they both said.

"Hey," Spinelli said.

She got changed into the outfit she would be wearing tonight- a white T-Shirt with a red tank top over it, denim shorts with red and black stripy tights underneath and some red flats. She thought she looked good, but not going overboard, like Kate and Ruby. Kate had chosen a really tight top and Ruby's skirt was probably the shortest Spinelli had ever seen in her life, and they were both wearing enough makeup to sink a ship. Spinelli knew that Sam and Dave thought they were beautiful no matter what they wore, and it was their personalities that counted anyway, but she chose not to say anything- she knew that it was Ruby's first date with Dave, and it was probably Kate's first date with Sam too. Spinelli felt sorry for them; they had to spend the whole of tonight feeling nervous about what Sam and Dave thought of them, and Sam and Dave would have to spend the night feeling nervous about what Kate and Ruby thought of _them_. She was glad that her and TJ weren't actually dating, they were going as friends, so she could relax and enjoy the night.

But when Spinelli, Kate and Ruby arrived at the movies and saw the guys standing outside, waiting for them, Spinelli's stomach did a flip flop when TJ waved at her. Spinelli smiled, hoping the fact that she was blushing wasn't too obvious. Judging by Kate and Ruby, who were nudging each other and giggling, it was.

"Hey, what are you losers doing here?"

Spinelli turned around to see her old friend, Vince Lassell, who'd gone over to the dark side now. He was friends with Lawson, Johnny V (who Spinelli had had her first ever crush on), and Rob (formerly King Bob). **(A/N- in case you were wondering why I changed his name, it's because Spinelli's dad is also called Bob and he is in this story, so it could get confusing.) **And he was dating Ashley T.

"It's a free country, jerk," Spinelli said. "We can go to the movies whenever we want to. You got a problem with that?"

"As long as you stay away from us, we're fine with that."

Spinelli snorted. "Excuse me? You're telling _us _to stay away from _you_?! Firstly, we wouldn't actually want to go near you in the first place. And secondly, it was you idiots that started this!"

"Let's go in," TJ said wisely, seeing that Spinelli was getting angry. Spinelli and her friends went inside the movie theatre. "Damn, I hope we ain't seeing the same movie as them," TJ said to them as they went to buy some tickets.

Outside, the Ashleys had arrived, and all four of the boys couldn't stop staring and gawping at them. Each Ashley found her date and kissed him- Ashley hated Lawson's kisses, they were all slimy and rough. The thought of them made her sick. She was hoping that Lawson would like the movie, because if he didn't, he'd kiss her all the way through it.

"Shall we get the tickets?" Johnny said, and all eight of them headed inside. They bought their tickets, got some popcorn and found their screen. Ashley A. saw Spinelli and her friends sitting in the back row.

"Like, what are _they _doing here?" Ashley A. said in disgust.

"Don't go into it," Vince said, finding eight seats together.

"Let's just hope they're not going to the pizza place afterwards," Ashley T. said, sitting down next to Vince.

"I hate those guys," Spinelli said darkly on the back row, glaring at Ashley A. and her posse.

"Same here," Sam said.

"But at least they're not going to the pizza place afterwards," Dave said.

Ashley Q, who was sat on Ashley A's right (Lawson was on her left), nudged her. "Like, look on the back row!" she whispered.

"Yes, Ashley Q, I _know _Spinugly and her weird friends are here," Ashley A. snapped. "God Ashley Q, you are like, _so _slow."

"No, it's not that! Look! Dorkweiler and Spinugly are _together_!"

"Oh yeah!" Ashley A. said. "They must be, like, on a date or something!"

The movie started, and luckily for Ashley A, Lawson liked it, and he only kissed her once- when the credits were rolling.

"I am, like, so totally ready for that pizza," Ashley T. said.

"Aren't you, like, on that diet, Ashley T?" Ashley B. said.

"Well, yeah, but I'm allowed to, like, treat myself every once in a while," Ashley T. said, grinning.

"Well, I don't even _need _to go on a diet. I have, like, a perfect figure." Ashley A. smirked.

"Isn't Ashley A. being, like, so totally annoying lately?" Ashley B. whispered to Ashley Q, who nodded.

"It's like she always has to, like, be the best all the time," she said, and Ashley T. nodded.

The Ashleys got into Ashley Q's car, the popular guys got into Rob's car and Spinelli and her friends got into Sam's car. **(A/N- let's just say it's a 7-seater :D) **All three cars drove to the pizza place.

Lawson rolled his eyes when Sam's car parked next to his on the parking lot at the pizza place. "Don't tell me you dorks are eating here too?"

"Get a life, Lawson," Spinelli said, as her and her friends got out of Sam's car. So far, Kate and Ruby's dates with Sam and Dave seemed to be going well. Spinelli was pleased for them.

Spinelli, TJ, Sam, Dave, Kate and Ruby got seated at a table which, luckily, was on the opposite side of the room to where Ashley A. and co were sitting. Spinelli, Ruby and Kate were sitting down one side of the table, and TJ, Sam and Dave were sitting down the other. Kate was opposite Sam, Ruby was opposite Dave and Spinelli was opposite TJ.

And both of the couples were getting pretty mushy.

TJ grinned. "Makes you feel kinda left out, doesn't it?"

Spinelli grinned. "Yeah. Glad to see them happy, though."

"Yeah," TJ smiled. Spinelli wished TJ would stop staring at her. His intense brown-eyed gaze was making her nervous.

TJ took a deep breath. This was his moment. He was going to do it. He was going to be subtle, but he was going to ask Spinelli out.

"Kinda makes me wish I had a girlfriend," TJ said, and before Spinelli could reply, there was an ear-splitting cry of NOOOOOOOOO!! coming from the other side of the room.

The Ashleys' table.

"Don't tell me," Spinelli said, grinning. "Ashley A. broke a nail."

But it wasn't that. It was something much, much worse.

A minute before the ear-splitting cry, Ashley A. had been sitting with her friends, eating pizza, when Ashley B's cell phone began to ring.

She answered it. "Hi mom… why do you want to talk to Ashley A? Fine, whatever…" She held the cell phone out for Ashley A. to take. "It's my mom, Ashley A, and she, like, wants to talk to you. I have, like, no idea why."

Ashley A. took Ashley B's cell phone, wondering why Mrs. Boulet wanted to talk to _her _instead of her own daughter. "Hi, Mrs. Boulet," Ashley A. said.

"Oh- hi, Ashley," Mrs. Boulet said. She sounded upset.

"Like, are you OK, Mrs. B?" Ashley A. asked.

"Ashley A, I don't know how to tell you this, but I've just received some terrible news," Mrs. Boulet said. "There's been a big fire at your house. Everything's gone, Ashley. Destroyed."

"What?!" Ashley A. couldn't believe what she was hearing. Suddenly panic set in- what about her family? "Are my family OK?"

"That's the worst bit," Mrs. Boulet said shakily. "They-they-they're all… dead. Apart from Brittany. She's… in intensive care…"

"NOOOOOOOOO!!" Ashley A. cried, tears falling down her cheeks. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to believe it. Who would want to believe that their parents and brother were dead, their sister was in intensive care and everything they owned had been completely destroyed?

"I'm going to pick you up from the pizza place now, so just wait outside for me, I'll be five minutes," Mrs. Boulet said. "Then I'm going to take you to the hospital to see Brittany. The social services are there. They want to talk to you."

"Social services?" Ashley A. repeated. "You mean…"

"I'm afraid so, Ashley," Mrs. Boulet sighed. "See you in five."

Mrs. Boulet hung up, and Ashley A. miserably handed Ashley B. her cell phone back.

"Like, what did my mother want?" Ashley B. said.

"Yeah, and why were you, like, acting like a drama queen and yelling across the pizza place?" Ashley T. wanted to know.

"Yeah," Ashley Q. added, "you like, totally showed us up, you know."

"I DON'T CARE!!" Ashley A. screamed. She didn't care about anything anymore. "YOU'D BE ACTING LIKE A 'DRAMA QUEEN' TOO IF YOU'D JUST FOUND OUT A FIRE HAD KILLED YOUR PARENTS AND YOUR BROTHER, PUT YOUR SISTER IN INTENSIVE CARE AND DESTROYED YOUR HOUSE!!"

With that, Ashley A. flounced out of the pizza place in tears. She stood outside in the rain, crying for a few minutes until Mrs. Boulet's car showed up.

"Oh, Ashley A, honey, I'm sorry," she said simply, but sorry wasn't good enough. Sorry wouldn't bring them back.

The journey to the hospital was silent and awkward. Ashley A. was dreading it, but at the same time, wanting to get it over with.

They arrived at the hospital. Ashley A. and Mrs. Boulet got out of the car and went to the reception.

"We're here to see Brittany Armbuster in intensive care," Mrs. Boulet said to the receptionist.

"Are you relatives?" The receptionist asked.

"Ashley here is her sister. I'm here to supervise her," Mrs. Boulet said.

The receptionist told them where Brittany was, and as they made their way to the intensive care unit, they were greeted by a stony-faced doctor.

"Are you Brittany Armbuster's sister?" The doctor asked her. Ashley A. bit her lip and nodded, too scared for words. She was trembling- Mrs. Boulet had to hold her, she was shaking so much.

"My name is Dr. Green, and I have some news for you about Brittany," Dr. Green said. "I'm extremely sorry to tell you this, but Brittany is…"

**CLIFFHANGER!! Muahahahaha. **

**Wow, this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Ever.**

**Hope you're enjoying this. If you are, then a review would be nice... hint hint :D**


	4. A Funeral And A Foster Family

**Welcome to Chapter 4 m'dears! This appears to be not only the longest chapter in this story, but the longest chapter I've ever written for fanfiction... ever!! I've really surprised myself by writing long chapters because I mostly write short ones, but hey, if the people like longer chapters, then the people will GET longer chapters! Yay! Aren't you happy.**

**Because the chapters are kinda long it takes ages to write and I'm sleeping over at my friend's house tomorrow night, so unless I can make a miracle tonight, there'll be no more updates till at least Thursday.**

**Thankyou to IndusLotus2001, who is so far my only reviewer and has encouraged me to write more. IndusLotus2001, if you're reading this... YOU ROCK!!**

**As I am stupid I forgot to put the disclaimer in my first 3 chapters!! Haha I'm so stupid :P But yeah, I don't own Recess... I think you might have guessed that.**

**Anyway, I'll let you read on :D Enjoy! xx**

_Please say alive, please say alive, please say alive, Brittany can't be dead, please say alive…_

"…Dead," Dr. Green said.

Ashley A's heart sank. Dr. Green gave the speech about him being sorry, how everyone did all they could, yatter yatter yatter, but Ashley didn't care. Sorry wasn't good enough, was it? Sorry couldn't bring her little sister back.

A woman suddenly appeared, she was about five foot three with mousy hair in a bob. She wore a cream suit and carried some files in her hand. "Hello, Ashley, my name is Cynthia and I am your social worker," Cynthia said in a patronizing tone. Ashley decided that instant she didn't like Cynthia. But she didn't like anything or anyone anymore. At that moment, all she could see in the world was cruelty and badness.

Cynthia told Ashley that she would be staying in a children's home until they could find some foster parents for her. Mrs. Boulet went back home to pick up Ashley's overnight bag and Paris, then returned to the hospital to give her stuff to her. Ashley looked at her stuff- it was all she had now.

Ashley said goodbye to Mrs. Boulet and got into Cynthia's car. Cynthia drove her to the children's home. On the way, Cynthia kept asking questions. 'So, Ashley, what music do you like?' 'So, Ashley, what do you like at school?' Ashley really wasn't in the mood for making small talk with patronizing strangers. She just blanked Cynthia completely.

They arrived at the children's home. Ashley was shown to her room. She collapsed down onto her bed, still in her tight pink dress, high heels and makeup.

And she cried. She cried and cried and cried and cried and cried. The salty tears just leaking from her big, blue eyes, rolling down her cheeks, dropping onto her neck. She didn't even bother to wipe her tears. What was the point? Even if she did stop crying, it wouldn't change anything. They'd still be dead. Nothing could change that.

The last thing Ashley A. remembered thinking was how much life sucked.

* * *

Their was a joint funeral for Brittany, Tyler and Ashley's parents on Wednesday. The other three Ashleys and all their families were there too. She hated seeing three complete families, three happy families. Ashley wasn't complete or happy now.

When Ashley was standing alone at the graves of her family, she could hear the other Ashleys somewhere in the distance. Ashley Q. said, "this is like, so totally tragic." She could have been talking about the fire. Or she could have broken a nail.

At the wake, the Ashleys all sat together at the same table, talking.

"So, like, Ashley A, are you, like, coming back to school tomorrow?" Ashley T. asked.

"Yeah," was all Ashley A. could manage. She wasn't sure if she could face school. She didn't want to face anything anymore.

"Like, where are you, like, going to _live_?!" Ashley B. wanted to know.

"I don't know," Ashley A. said, too depressed to remember to say 'like' like the other Ashleys did. There were more important things in life than that. "I was going to be living with my Uncle Maxwell, but he was too busy with his business to look after me. But I don't even need looking after. It's stupid. And now I'm living in this stupid little children's home and I'm probably going to be left there to rot for the rest of my life."

Ashley _hated _the children's home. She hated how the rooms were small with loads of cracks in the bare walls. She hated how the shower was absolutely freezing cold, and then it randomly spouted boiling hot water when you were least expecting it. She hated how there were spiders everywhere. She hated how the TV was small and only had ten channels and the picture was all fuzzy. She hated the food, she hated the staff, she hated the other kids there… in general, she just hated the entire place. It was so far from the luxurious life she'd lived and loved. That life had only been gone a few days and she missed it already. She was going to inherit all her daddy's money, but it had been put in a bank and she couldn't access it until she was eighteen. She had to wait two years and four months. It was so unfair. The only decent thing about it was that she'd been allowed to take Paris with her, but she was starting to look scruffy. They didn't even wash or brush her, and how could they expect her to do it? She'd break a nail, and she couldn't afford that, seeing as she wouldn't be able to have weekly manicures anymore.

However, that night, Cynthia had some news for her. "We've found some potential foster parents for you," she said. "Well- they want to foster a teenage girl, and you're one of the only ones we have at the home. They're coming over on Saturday."

"Whatever," Ashley said.

* * *

The next day was Thursday, and Ashley A. was back at school. She wasn't ready to face the world, though. Not even the other three Ashleys. She was still angry with the world. It was all the world's fault. If the world wasn't such a stupid place then her family would still be alive, not four dead bodies buried into the ground for all eternity, and her house would still be standing, and not a stupid pile of ash and bricks like it was now. Ashley A. was so angry with the world. She hated everyone right now- and that made her meaner than ever.

She hated the way people were acting. She hated the way her friends were just acting like nothing had happened- the Ashleys talked about nails and soap operas, Johnny, Vince and Rob talked about basketball practise and Lawson just kissed her constantly.

Then there were the people who she barely even knew coming over to her and saying "I am so, so sorry to hear about your family," and stuff like that. They didn't even know her, though. They didn't even care. They were probably just trying to get on the good side of her because she was popular. And anyway, she didn't want sympathy. She wanted her family back. But that wasn't an option, was it?

Everyone else was just awkward. Whenever she walked into a classroom these days, the usual buzz of conversation would die down and everyone would stare at her like she'd grown an extra nose.

"What are _you_ looking at?" Ashley A. said to one class when she'd finally had enough. "_Yes_, my parents, brother and sister are dead, _yes,_ my house has been destroyed, and _yes,_ I live in a children's home now. But I'm still a person. That OK with you?"

Then she stormed out of the room.

"That's, like, weird," Ashley T. said. "Ashley A, like, never normally cuts class."

"And she never, like, freaks out at people either," Ashley Q. pointed out.

Ashley B. was tapping her freshly manicured nails on the desk, thinking of something. "Did you, like, notice that in Ashley A's, like, little speech, she never like, said 'like' once!"

"Weird," Ashley Q. said, while Ashleys B. and T. nodded. "Very weird indeed."

* * *

Ashley A. didn't show up for the rest of that day. It was now lunch, and Spinelli and TJ were walking down the corridor. They'd been in that class with Ashley A. where she'd yelled at everyone and stormed out and they, like the rest of the school, where wondering what the hell was going on.

"I know she's upset about her parents- heck, I'd be as well- but still- that was just… weird. Not like Ashley A. at all," TJ said, but he appeared to be talking to himself, because Spinelli just raised her eyebrows.

"She probably just wants to get attention," Spinelli said. "And she probably doesn't even care that all her family are dead. All she cares about is that her mansion is gone and she's in a children's home and she ain't livin' like a princess anymore."

"Yeah, but it must be hard for her," TJ said fairly, but then Spinelli said, "I'm sick of talking about Ashley A. It's all _everyone's _done all _week_."

"OK," TJ said, wanting to keep Spinelli happy. "You doing anything this weekend?"

"Apart from work, nothing, but mom and dad are," Spinelli said. "They want to foster a kid, and they're going looking round a children's home on Saturday. They wanted me to go with them but I'm at work, and I'm not losing out on money to go see some stupid kids."

"Whoa," TJ said. "Why do they want to foster another kid?"

Spinelli shrugged. "No idea."

* * *

It was Saturday, and the couple were getting ready to go and look around the children's home. Their names were Bob and Flo.

The couple had had a lot of ups and downs when it came to parenting. Flo's first pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage, and Bob and Flo were told by the doctor that they couldn't have any more children. Flo was broken hearted- until they adopted a baby boy named Vito.

Then, when Vito was five, Flo was surprised to find that she was pregnant again, and nine months later, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Joseph- Joey for short.

This brought new hope to the couple: because they both wanted a baby girl, and when Vito was eight and Joey was nearly three, they got just that. They named their daughter Ashley.

For a while, Bob, Flo, Vito, Joey and Ashley were a happy family- but all that changed when Vito was sixteen.

Bob and Flo were arguing about whether or not it would be right to tell Vito he was adopted. Bob thought he had a right to know and wanted to tell him, but Flo thought it would be best not to and that he might get hurt. But Vito overheard the argument and worked things out for himself.

After Vito accidentally found out, the family started to fall apart. Vito just spent all his time upstairs in the room he and Joey shared, playing music that was so loud the whole house vibrated. He got in with the wrong crowd at school and started going out getting drunk and doing drugs each night. Bob and Flo blamed each other and rowed more than ever. Then Vito ran away from home and he was missing for a week. Flo ate nothing and cried the whole week, and Bob just sat in the chair next to the phone, staring into space.

Then a week after Vito went missing, the phone finally rang. It was a policeman, telling them that Vito had been found dead- he'd committed suicide. Bob and Flo were both distraught and blamed themselves.

The whole situation was a mess- but one good thing had come out of it. It had formed an exceptionally close bond between Joey and Ashley.

At the time, Joey was eleven and Ashley was eight. They were too young to understand what was going on, and they were petrified by all the arguments, all the tears and not knowing where their brother was.

So they stuck together, and because they helped each other out, they both made it through the situation and held themselves together better than Bob and Flo did. And going through such a hard situation at such an early age had made them tough.

Slowly but surely, the lives of the family returned to some form of normality. Joey and Ashley remained extremely close, and now Joey had started college and left home, Ashley was really missing him. And Bob and Flo knew that. That's why they were looking into fostering- because they didn't want Ashley to be lonely.

So today, they were going to look around the children's home and see if there were any teenage girls they were interested in fostering. Flo had wanted to foster a girl because her daughter, Ashley, was such a tomboy, and Flo was hoping having another girl in the house would make Ashley more feminine.

"We're here," Bob said, parking the car in the children's home parking lot.

They were greeted by a mousy-haired social worker, who introduced herself as Cynthia. They had coffee in her office while she asked them some questions.

"So, it's definitely a girl you're interested in?" Cynthia asked, and both of them nodded.

"Is there a preferred age?"

"We'd prefer a teenager, really," Bob said. "Our daughter's sixteen and she's been incredibly lonely since her brother started college."

Flo nodded. "And we'd really like to make a difference in someone's life."

"So, have you ever fostered before?"

"We've adopted," Flo said, and Bob nodded. Bob and Flo didn't really want to go into the details, but luckily Cynthia didn't ask them. She just said, "That's great. And how many children do you have living with you?"

"Just one, now," Bob said. "She's sixteen."

"Well, there are three teenage girls here at the home, would you like to meet them all?"

"Yes please," they said, and they met the girls in the home.

First they met a girl called Karen, and then they met a girl called Penelope. But both Karen and Penelope seemed to be even bigger tomboys than their own daughter, and they seemed to come from quite troubled backgrounds. Bob and Flo didn't want to sound snooty, but they thought that they would be a bad influence on Ashley, and they didn't want that.

There was one more teenage girl left for them to meet.

* * *

Ashley A. was sat on the bed in her room at the care home. She had her pink cell phone in her hand. She sighed- there was no reception here, so she couldn't even call the other Ashleys. And she was bored to death- no, she hated that word- she was bored out of her tree.

There was a knock on her door. "Ashley, it's Cynthia, and I've brought some potential foster parents," Cynthia's voice on the other side of the door said.

"Come in if you must," Ashley A. said in a bored tone.

Cynthia walked in with a couple that looked like they must have been in their early fifties or something. The woman was a couple of inches taller than the man, who had black hair underneath his straw hat, a black moustache and a beer belly. He was wearing a kilt that revealed his hairy legs. And the woman wasn't that much better- her brown hair was styled into a huge ponytail, and she was wearing huge red glasses.

"This is Bob and Flo," Cynthia said to Ashley. "Bob, Flo, this is Ashley."

"What a coincidence!" Bob said. "That's the name of our daughter."

_How many Ashleys are there? _Ashley A. thought to herself. She already knew five, including herself and that little rat Spinelli, who was just a disgrace to the Ashley name.

Still, if their daughter was called Ashley then maybe she'd be every bit as stylish as the other Ashleys. It would be good living with another Ashley. Heck, maybe she'd start at their school and become the fifth Ashley. Come senior year they'd rule the school!

But what kind of Ashley would let her parents dress like _that_?

Maybe they were having an off day. It was OK- Ashley herself had been having a lot of off days since the fire. It had destroyed pretty much all of her cool, expensive, designer clothes, and the care home had had to lend her some ugly second-hand ones. Eww.

Bob and Flo took Ashley out for lunch, and Ashley was actually quite surprised at how much she liked them. The three of them got on really well.

"Ashley, we've decided we'd like to foster you," Flo said. She knew Ashley would be a perfect influence on her _own _Ashley- she seemed very girly and was a very pleasant person to be around. "Would you like that?"

"That would be, like, totally amazing, Flo!" Ashley grinned. She hated the care home. She wanted to live in a _real_ home. So what if these people were walking, talking fashion disasters?

"Of course, you'll have to meet our own Ashley and see if you like her," Bob said.

Hmm. Ashley A. had forgotten about that. "Like, won't it get a little confusing, there being two Ashleys in the house? Like, when you say 'Ashley!' and we'll, like, both go 'yes?'"

"Ah, that won't be a problem," Bob grinned. "Pookie's been nagging us to call her Spinelli for years."


	5. Spinelli's Reaction

**Some of you might be wondering why the rating of this story was changed from K+ to T. Well, this chapter introduces some slightly darker themes, and maybe I should have changed it after Chapter 4 as well, because there were some quite dark themes with the whole story about Vito.**

**Yay, I got two more reviews!! :D I was SO happy when they came through, so thank you. Keep 'em coming guys!**

**ENJOY CHAPTER 5!!**

"Whoa, wait a minute," Ashley said, hardly believing her ears. "Your daughter is _Ashley Spinelli_?!"

"Yeah, do you guys know each other?" Bob asked.

Ashley wondered what to say. She could say, "Yeah, I do know her, and we hate each others' guts," and be stuck in the care home all her life. Or she could lie and say that they were best buddies and have to _live _with her. Ew! Ashley couldn't decide which one was worse.

But then Ashley remembered something. Spinelli worked for a few hours after school and on Saturdays. So she wouldn't always be around. And when she was- well, she could just go to one of the other Ashleys' houses or something.

"Uh- yeah. We know each other." Ashley said. It wasn't exactly a lie.

Luckily, Bob and Flo didn't really go that deep into the subject. They drove her back to the children's home- their car was a bit of a heap for someone who was a mechanic (Bob and Flo had told her all about their careers), but never mind.

"Well, we'll hopefully see each other again, Ashley," Flo said, and Ashley even let them both hug her goodbye.

Cynthia waved as their heap of a car disappeared. "So, it went well, then?" she said. Ashley nodded and went upstairs.

Ashley A. sighed. She couldn't believe she'd just said that. New family or no new family, she _couldn't _live under the same roof as Ashley Spinelli. She just couldn't. She could think of three problems with that: number one, she hated Spinelli, number two, Spinelli hated her, and number three… what would the other Ashleys think?

"WHAT??"

It was dinner at the Spinelli household, and Bob and Flo had just told Spinelli who they were planning on fostering.

"You can't _foster _Ashley _Armbuster_!" Spinelli cried out in outrage.

"Why not?" Flo said.

"Because she's the most evil little bi"-

"Now now Ashley, no need for bad language," Bob said, knowing what his angry daughter was going to say.

"We're going to have to start calling her Spinelli now, dear," Flo said. "If Ashley is going to live with us it could get confusing."

"Oh, so when I ask you to call me Spinelli for _eight years _because that's what _I _want, you ignore me completely and call me the name that I hate because it's the name of THAT airhead, and now you want to foster THAT airhead you start calling me Spinelli just so it doesn't get confusing for her?!"

Flo looked confused. "Well, we could call you Ashley A. and Ashley S. if you wanted…"

"NO, Mom!" Spinelli screamed. "I don't want you to call her ANYTHING! Because I DON'T want her to move in with us!!"

And with that, Spinelli stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her and leaving the rest of her dinner uneaten.

"That went well," Bob said sarcastically.

Spinelli had tears in her eyes as she stomped down the street with one destination in mind. The destination where there was always someone who was glad to see her, always someone to give support, always someone who was on her side.

She was going to TJ's house.

Spinelli hammered on the door, and TJ instantly answered. He wasn't surprised to see Spinelli- they were over at each other's houses all the time.

"Hi Spin. What's wrong?" TJ asked, when they were both in TJ's room- which was like Spinelli's, but the walls were blue, it was messier and the only picture on the wall was a Senior Fusion poster.

Spinelli flopped down onto TJ's bed. "You know how my mom and dad were gonna foster another kid? Well, they've decided on Ashley A."

TJ's jaw dropped open. "What?! But that's crazy talk! Do your parents know anything? If you and Ashley A. live together, after five minutes there'll be…"

"Two dead bodies on the floor, I know, I know." Spinelli said. "But they won't listen to me. They never do."

TJ sighed. "Um… Spinelli, I don't know if I can make your parents change their minds, but what I _can _do is say that if she _does _move in with you- which she might not- then you can come over whenever you want."

Spinelli's face lit up. "Really, TJ?"

TJ grinned. "Always. Anything for you, Spinelli."

Spinelli gave TJ a huge hug. TJ came apart from the hug, blushing a little. And then he remembered something. If Ashley A. moved in with Spinelli, then Spinelli would want to be out of the house as much as possible. TJ's house was only a few doors down from Spinelli's, and TJ had just told her that she could come whenever she wanted. Which only meant one thing- he'd be seeing a _lot _more of Spinelli. The thought made a grin spread across his face.

Spinelli came apart from the hug she'd just shared with TJ and saw TJ grinning. "What are you grinning like that for?" Spinelli asked suspiciously.

"Can I not just smile because I am happy? Does there have to be a reason for my happiness?" TJ asked. He couldn't tell Spinelli _why _he was smiling. He'd sound really corny. And then Spinelli would work out that he liked her and would probably slap him.

But then Spinelli got the complete wrong end of the stick. "You like Ashley A, don't you?"

"What?" TJ said. "Of course not!" How come she thought that?

"Don't lie to me, TJ," Spinelli said, raising one eyebrow. "I've known you since before kindergarten. I can read you like a book."

_If you can read me like a book, then why can't you work out for yourself that I like you and stop making things so hard for me? _thought TJ.

"Well, you obviously don't know me as well as you think you do, Spinelli, because you're wrong," TJ snapped. "I don't like Ashley A. How did you get that ridiculous idea into your head anyway?"

"Well, you randomly start grinning like a maniac and won't tell me why, and it's because I told you that she was going to be living with me. Think about it, Teej, if you really liked someone, you'd be over the moon if they lived a few doors down from you." Spinelli said, and TJ thought to himself, _oh, Spinelli, you have no idea._

"I… was grinning at something else, OK?"

"No one just starts grinning for no reason, TJ. You like her."

"No I don't!" TJ was getting annoyed now. Why wouldn't Spinelli leave her alone. "I don't like Ashley A. And, in actual fact, I like someone else."

"Oh really?" Spinelli said, raising one eyebrow. "Who?"

"Uh- I can't tell you," TJ said, blushing to a shade of red similar to the colour of his famous hat. It would be so awkward if TJ told Spinelli he liked her, because he could tell she didn't like him back.

"Right. So it _is_ Ashley A," Spinelli said, sounding disappointed. "You know what, TJ? I thought that you of all people would be on my side. But I guess I was wrong."

And before TJ could say anything, Spinelli stormed out of the house. **(A/N- there seems to be a lot of people storming out of houses in this story :P) **He seemed to have blown it with Spinelli, just because _she'd_ got the wrong idea. And one question was playing over and over again like a broken record in TJ's mind: if Spinelli didn't like him, then why did she sound so upset that he 'liked' Ashley A?

Spinelli dived onto her bed, the tears already pouring down her cheeks. She hadn't cried since she was eight and the whole Vito situation was going on. She couldn't believe this. She was being driven out of her own life by Ashley A. Already her parents were going to foster her, and nothing Spinelli could say would make them listen to her when she tried to tell them she was bad news. And her parents would definitely love her more than they'd ever loved Spinelli; Spinelli's mom had always been nagging on at her to be more girly, but that was something Spinelli just couldn't do; she'd always been a tomboy, and she wasn't prepared to change that for anyone, not even her mother. But now Ashley A, who had to be the girliest person in the universe, was moving in with them, and it would be like Flo's dream come true. She would have a girl who would watch beauty pageants and soap operas on TV with her, a girl she could shop for shoes with, a girl who would definitely take up a spot in her heart that used to belong to Spinelli.

Then there was the fact that Ashley A. was popular, athletic and was quite intelligent if she actually put the effort into it. Spinelli was neither of the three.

So when Spinelli had felt like the world was against her, she turned to the one person who was always on her side; or so she thought. Even TJ didn't care about her anymore. In fact, TJ probably never cared about her in the first place. Why should he? He had Ashley A. Ashley A, the perfect, Barbie girl. Blonde hair, head cheerleader, face and figure of a model. Spinelli looked at herself in the mirror and hated herself. Who would choose Spinelli over her?

Spinelli looked at the wall of pictures. Pictures of all the people who'd let her down. All the people who'd failed her. First Gretchen, by leaving her to go to some dumb genius school. Then Joey, by abandoning her to go to college. Next it was her parents, by replacing her with Ashley A, and now TJ, for breaking her heart. She found a picture of her and TJ last year at some hotel in France. Spinelli and TJ's families had a tradition; one year the Detweilers would take Spinelli on vacation with them, and the next year Spinelli's family would take TJ to the little cottage they always stayed at. She tugged the picture down with extreme force and ripped it into tiny shreds. The shreds that were now all that remained of her heart. She never wanted to look at TJ again, talk to TJ again, _think _about TJ again, because it hurt too much. Because now, whenever she thought of him, all she could think about was how he would never love her. He would only ever love Ashley A.

With shivering hands, Spinelli opened a drawer and picked up what she was looking for- a knife. It gleamed at her, and she could see the reflection of her face in it; scared and with a greenish tinge to it. Spinelli felt sick inside, sick with fear, sick with anger, sick with heartbreak.

Spinelli was about to do something she'd never done before. The knife was _just _about an inch away from her wrist when…

"Pookie, are you OK? Can I come in?"

Spinelli sighed and quickly put the knife away. "Mom. The girl I _hate _more than anyone else in this stupid world is living with us. So no, I'm not OK. So leave me alone, OK? Just LEAVE ME ALONE!!"

Flo sighed and walked away from her daughter's door, knowing it was no good. Sometimes she felt like she'd totally failed as a mother. Look where Vito ended up. Joey turned out OK and was doing well in college, but lately she'd noticed that Ashley- Spinelli, even- had been more moody than usual. Was it her fault? Had she been making her unhappy?

Flo slumped down on the stairs and cried. All the way through her childhood, her parents had told her what a failure she was. And as much as she hated to admit it, it was true. She was a failure. All her kids ended up miserable. Maybe she shouldn't foster Ashley after all. Maybe that would just be another life for her to ruin.

"Oh my God! What's wrong, Flo?" Bob asked gently, putting his arm around his wife's shaking shoulders.

"I'm such a failure," Flo sobbed.

"No you're not," Bob said, and he meant it. "You're the most wonderful person I've ever met."

Flo rested her head on Bob's shoulder, and he stroked her hair. "Shh," he said soothingly, like he was comforting a baby. "It's gonna be OK, Flo. It's gonna be OK."

**But is Bob right?**


	6. World War Three

And so, the next Saturday, Ashley Armbuster moved in with Ashley Spinelli.

Bob and Flo came to pick her up from the care home in their car, with Spinelli scowling in the back seat. Ashley A. noticed Spinelli had earphones in- _at least I won't have to talk to her_, she thought, sitting in the back seat next to Spinelli.

They arrived at the Spinelli household. It was definitely far from Armbuster Manor. It was small and only had two storeys. _How can they _live _in there? _Ashley A. thought, forgetting her terrible experience at the children's home.

"You'll be sleeping in Joey's room," Bob said, as Spinelli took out her earphones.

"What?!" Spinelli said. "But what if Joey suddenly drops out of college and wants it back?"

"Then Ashley can share with you," Flo said firmly, and Spinelli just folded her arms, sulking. _God, she acts like a five-year-old sometimes,_ Ashley A. thought to herself.

She looked up to find TJ Detweiler in the window a few doors down. Staring at Spinelli. Ashley A. rolled her eyes and turned away; not only did she have to live _with _Spinugly, Dorkweiler was also on the same street. Talk about unfair!

_This must be Loser Street or something,_ Ashley A. thought to herself, turning away from TJ to get her small bag of stuff from the boot; she had lost almost everything she owned in the fire, and Flo was taking her shopping tomorrow for some new clothes.

Spinelli got out of the car and looked up at the window of TJ's house, to find him staring at Ashley A. TJ had been trying to apologize all week but she didn't want to have anything to do with him anymore. It was driving Sam, Dave, Kate and Ruby nuts; especially because neither of them would tell them why Spinelli wasn't talking to TJ. TJ didn't know himself. He hoped it was because Spinelli thought he liked Ashley A. and she was jealous because she liked him. If only she'd admit that, and then TJ could tell her how _he _felt and everything would be great.

But was it even true?

TJ mouthed, 'I need to talk to you!' but Spinelli just made a very rude hand gesture at him and walked over to the door.

Ashley A. was shown to her new room. It was extremely messy, had deep red walls and pictures of skateboarders, wrestlers and rock bands everywhere. Ashley A. hated it instantly.

After she'd unpacked all her stuff, she sat on her bed, taking it all in, when the door was flung open- it was Spinelli, wearing a scowl on her face.

Ashley A. folded her arms. If Spinelli was going to be difficult, then two could play that game. "Like, it would have been nice to like, knock before you came in."

"This ain't your room. It's my brother's. And this ain't your house." Spinelli said.

"Like, it is now." Ashley A. said.

"Look, I just came to tell you this. I don't like you being in my house. I hate your guts. So stay out of my way… or else," Spinelli said threateningly, and she left, slamming the door.

Ashley A. rolled her eyes and went downstairs. The Spinellis' TV was bigger and better quality than the one at the children's home, but still wasn't up to Armbuster Manor standard. And it only had about sixty channels.

Ashley A. had just found 'Young Hearts' when the doorbell rang. She heard Flo shout from upstairs, "will you get that, Ashley?"

Ashley answered the door to find TJ Detweiler standing on the doorstep, looking nervous.

"Here to see your girlfriend, Dorkweiler?" Ashley said coldly to him.

"Just let me in, Ashley," TJ said through gritted teeth.

Ashley A. stepped aside to let him into the house. TJ ran up the stairs and found Spinelli's room instantly.

Spinelli was practising guitar. She'd written a new song called 'I Hate You' written about a certain somebody. Well, two certain somebodies. **(A/N- can anyone guess who those 'certain somebodies' are? :D) **She was so wrapped up in it that she didn't even hear someone knocking on her door, three times.

Suddenly, the door opened, and TJ walked in. "Sounding good," he said, grinning, this time sheepishly.

"Get out, TJ," Spinelli said in a monotone.

"No," TJ said, closing the door behind him. "Not until I've talked to you."

"Well, I don't wanna listen," Spinelli said.

"I'm sorry for"- TJ said, but Spinelli put her hands over her ears. "Blah blah blah blah blah," she was saying.

"Spin! I try to say sorry and you're just acting like a toddler?!"

Spinelli's hands remained over her ears, and the 'blah blah blahs' got louder. TJ rolled his eyes; he'd suddenly had enough of Spinelli. Here he was, trying to put things right, even though he couldn't even see what he'd done wrong, and she had to go and do that. Well, if she wanted to put things right, she could do it herself.

"Grow up, Spinelli," TJ said, leaving.

Spinelli rolled her eyes and started to play her new song again.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Ashley A. was trying to watch 'Young Hearts'. It was just getting interesting- a character called Olivia had another character, Ronnie, in a corner of a dark alleyway, with a knife in her hand…

And suddenly all Ashley A. could hear was a loud guitar tune. She tried to ignore it at first, but it just got louder and louder, until she couldn't concentrate on the TV at all.

"I'm, like, _so _gonna kill Spinugly!" Ashley A. said, getting up from the sofa and barging into Spinelli's room.

Ashley A. was quite surprised to find the music was coming from Spinelli herself, who was holding a red guitar in her hands. She thought she would be listening to it on the radio or a CD player or something.

"Like, it would have been nice to like, knock before you came in," Spinelli said, in a falsely sweet voice.

"Like, shut up," Ashley A. snapped. "Even if I had knocked, you wouldn't have, like, heard me, because of that awful noise you're making with that… _thing_."

"It's called a _guitar_, Ashley," Spinelli said, in a patronizing voice that reminded Ashley of Cynthia.

"Like, I can see that," Ashley A. snapped. "I'm not, like, stupid you know."

"Good," Spinelli said. "Then don't act like it."

"Like, whatever," Ashley A. said.

"What the hell did you want anyway?"

"I _want _you to, like, shut the hell up so I can watch TV!"

"I have a right to play guitar in my own home, you know. If you don't like it then just go back to the salon or something. It ain't my problem."

"Well, like, seeing as we're, like, living in the same house, my problems _are _your problems now."

"Look. You're making it sound like we're _married _or something. We're just two people who hate each other's guts that have been forced to live together. So your problems aren't my problems at all. So yeah, I can practise guitar what I want, when I want. Because you've only lived here a few hours and already you're acting like you own the place. But I've lived here all my life. So yeah, you have no right to tell me what to do, and you can get out of my room now."

Spinelli smirked as Ashley A. slammed the door, looking defeated. Ding, ding: round one to Spinelli.

After a very awkward dinner, Bob had gone to take their Great Dane, Sparky, and Ashley's dog Paris (who had also moved in with them) for a walk, and Flo was upstairs, ironing. Spinelli was on the sofa, watching wrestling on TV.

Ashley A, who was still sore about Spinelli making her miss 'Young Hearts', had decided to get revenge on Spinelli. She sat in an armchair and smiled at Spinelli. "Like, hey Spinelli," Ashley A. said sweetly. A little too sweetly, in Spinelli's opinion.

"What the hell do you want," Spinelli said, her eyes still glued to the TV screen.

"Just to, like, say sorry about what happened earlier," Ashley A. said. "I should never have, like, just barged in your room like that."

"What are you up to?" Spinelli said, giving Ashley A. a suspicious glance.

"Nothing," Ashley A. lied, still using her sweet tone. Spinelli grunted and went back to the wrestling.

Just as the wrestling was starting to get 'exciting', (Ashley found it the most boring thing she'd ever seen, but she knew Spinelli was getting excited because she was on the edge of the couch, her eyes the size of trash can lids) Ashley A. got out her cell phone. She flipped it open and she called Lawson.

"Uh- Ashley?" Lawson said, confused- normally it was him that called her.

"Hey _baby_!" Ashley A. said, extremely loudly, exaggerating the word 'baby'.

Spinelli shot her a death glare.

"Uh- hi Ashley," Lawson said. "Why are you calling me?"

"Because I want to talk to you, _silly_!" Ashley A. carried on. "Like, why else would I call you? God, Lawson, you are, like, _sooooooo _stupid sometimes!"

"You're calling me to tell me I'm stupid?" Lawson said, sounding annoyed.

"No, baby, of course you're not stupid!" Ashley A. said. "Aww, baby, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad… you're not mad at me, are you? Coz you have, like, every right to be mad at me…"

"No, _I _have every right to be mad at you. I'm trying to watch the wrestling," Spinelli growled.

Ashley A. ignored Spinelli and stuck her nose in the air. Lawson sounded confused. "Why would I be mad at you, Ashley?"

"I don't know… baby, you love me, right?"

"Yeah, course I do."

Ashley A. squealed. "Like, omigod! You just said you love me! You sounded, like, _sooo _cute when you said that! Say it again!"

"Uh- I love you?"

Spinelli sighed and reached for the remote. She turned the sound of the wrestling right up, but Ashley A's voice just got louder and louder too.

"Omigod! Lawson, how did I, like, end up with someone as _adorable _as you…"

"Coz you're hot?"

"You think I'm hot? Do you, like, really think I'm hot? You sure you're not, like, just saying that to make me feel better about myself? Are you sure you don't, like, think I'm really ugly or something? Omigod, Lawson, you are _so_ cute!"

Ashley A. smirked at the sight of Spinelli's face getting more and more annoyed every second. She decided to do something that she _knew _would make her crack.

Lawson said, "I am?" and Ashley _squealed _with laughter, sounding just like a hyena.

The sound of Ashley A's high pitched, squealing and obviously fake laugh went right through Spinelli. How the _hell_ was she supposed to concentrate on the wrestling?

And, of course, the credits started rolling. Spinelli couldn't believe it, thanks to Ashley A, she'd missed all the wrestling. And it was two of the best wrestlers in history. It was probably the most exciting thing she ever would have seen in her life. But Ashley A. just had to go and ruin that.

"I HATE YOU!" Spinelli screamed.

Ashley A. smirked as Spinelli stomped upstairs, looking defeated. Ding, ding: round two to Ashley A…

**So, Ashley A. and Spinelli aren't exactly best friends right now… P**

**Sorry this chapter is short compared to the others, I got writer's block, but hopefully Chapter 7 will be longer. **

**This MIGHT be your last chapter until tomorrow, so sorry about that. If I'm quick I might be able to get Chapter 7 up today, but if not, then again, I'm sorry.**

**Thanks again for all your reviews!**


	7. Scandalous!

****

I'm not really that happy with this chapter, so if you don't like it either then I'm really sorry. And this is probably it until tomorrow, so I'm sorry about that as well. Goodbye, enjoy and REVIEW!! xx

The next day was Sunday, the day Flo took Ashley to shop for some new clothes. Flo drove Ashley to the mall in her car, and they parked up and went inside. Ashley's own mother had hardly ever taken her and Brittany shopping, she had always been far too busy with her career. Whenever Ashley had been shopping before, it was always with the other Ashleys. And they took shopping so _seriously_.

"So, where do you want to go first, Ashley?" Flo asked. She had a feeling she was going to enjoy this shopping trip. Spinelli _hated_ shopping, and she hadn't worn a dress- or the colour pink- in years. She would probably end up wearing a T-Shirt and jeans to her own wedding. And Flo had always wanted to go on a girly shopping spree with her daughter, but Spinelli had always preferred to stay at home with Bob and watch wrestling, or go skateboarding with her friends or something. Maybe going on a girly shopping spree with Ashley would make up for all those years Flo never got to do that with Spinelli.

But when Ashley pointed to Prada, Flo's heart sank. She'd forgotten all about the background Ashley had come from. She'd forgotten that her parents were multi-millionaires, she'd lived in a huge, luxurious mansion and had everything she wanted. And Flo knew that her family couldn't get Ashley the kind of things she'd been used to in the past.

"No, Ashley," Flo said, gently but firmly. "We can't afford to buy you clothes from there. We aren't made of money. I wish we were, but we're not. I'm sorry."

Ashley sighed. She'd just remembered the other Ashleys. One of the rules of the Ashleys was that you must follow the book. And the book clearly stated which shops you were allowed to get your clothes from, and which shops you weren't. And the shops Flo took Ashley in were definitely _not _on the list. Ashley thought that some of the clothes Flo bought for her were actually quite nice. But she knew that the other Ashleys would stick up their noses at them.

Ashley A. wore some of the new clothes to school on Monday. She had to _walk_ to school, because Bob and Flo had to get to work, and Spinelli didn't have a car. It was so unfair- Ashley hated walking.

She was such a slow walker that she was almost late for school- the first bell rang just as she got there. She had to run all the way to homeroom. And when she got there, not only was she late, but she had a red face, messed up hair and was gasping for breath. _Not _a good look.

"Ah, Miss Armbuster, so nice of you to finally show up," their teacher, Mrs. Coleman said.

"But, Mrs. Coleman, the bell only went a minute ago"-

"That's it! Thirty minutes detention after school for coming in late and answering back."

Scowling, Ashley A. sat in her seat next to Ashley B.

"I can't believe I, like, got detention," Ashley A. said to the other Ashleys at the end of the day. "It's, like, so totally unfair."

"We'll, like, see you tomorrow, Ashley A," Ashley B. said, as Ashley A. went into the detention room.

"Girls, is it just me, or is Ashley A, like, losing her touch?" Ashley T. said.

"I, like, see what you mean, Ashley T." Ashley B. said. "Like, before, cheerleaders could, like, get away with anything, and now, Ashley A's been, like, put in detention."

"And have you, like, seen the way she was _dressed _today?" Ashley Q. said. "Like, not one garment of designer clothing at all."

Ashley T. and B. nodded.

"But there has to, like, be a reason behind it," Ashley T. said. "Like, you have to remember that she's, like, going through a hard time."

"Yeah, but there's, like, no excuse for what she was wearing today," Ashley Q. said.

"She has just, like, lost all her cool clothes," Ashley T. pointed out.

"True," Ashley B. said. "OK, like, here's an idea. Tomorrow, we, like, get to the bottom of this."

"Whatever," Ashley Q. said, getting into the driver seat of her car, while Ashley B. got in the passenger seat and Ashley T. got in the back. "But she'd better, like, have a good excuse. Because first of all, she like, forgot to wear purple on Purple Day back in fourth grade. Now this. We can't, like, have this kind of violation of the rules in the Ashleys, because, girls, we're, like, better than that. If Ashley A, like, slips up again, then I have a feeling we'll have, like, no choice other than to, like, kick her out of the Ashleys."

Ashley B. nodded. "Like, well said, Ashley Q."

"Yeah," Ashley T. agreed, as the engine revved up and the car left the school building.

That night, Ashley A. walked home from her detention, feeling annoyed. She couldn't believe she'd gotten detention. She was the most popular girl in sophomore year, for God's sake! Even the teachers showed the popular ones some respect. But Ashley had gotten detention. Why? Did this mean she wasn't popular anymore?

As if her life couldn't get any worse, over dinner, Bob and Flo made a terrible announcement to Ashley.

"Now, Ashley, this is the third day you've lived with us, and it's about time you learned the Golden Rule of the house," Bob said.

"What's the Golden Rule of the house?" Ashley asked.

"That we each do our fair share of the chores," Flo said. "For example, we each take it in turns to do the dishes. And Spinelli has to do chores in order to earn her allowance."

"I'll only get my allowance if I do _chores_?!" Ashley echoed, and all three Spinellis nodded. Ashley sighed- she never had to do chores when her family were alive. Harold did everything for them. And Ashley got money whenever she wanted it.

"So, we'd like you to start by doing the dishes tonight," Bob said.

"But, that'll, like, totally ruin my nails!" Ashley said in disgust. Her nails; her beautiful nails, her pride and joy. She couldn't ruin them! It was bad enough that she had to live in a small house- _with _Spinelli- and wear clothes from regular, non-designer shops. But she had to go and wrick her nails as well.

"Get over it!" Spinelli snapped. "There are more important things in the world than your stupid nails. You Ashleys really need to get a life."

Spinelli left the table and stormed up the stairs. Bob and Flo just shrugged like it was a totally normal thing for her to do- knowing Spinelli, it probably was. _She's the moodiest person I've ever met,_ Ashley thought to herself.

"I've, um, never washed the dishes before," Ashley said nervously, as Bob loaded up the sink with hot, soapy water.

"OK, well, I'll show you how to do it, but to live in this house, you've really gotta know how to look after yourself," Bob said, demonstrating to Ashley how to wash the dishes.

Ashley reluctantly started work on the dishes. "Is this all I'll have to do?"

"Nah, what gives you that idea?!" Bob said merrily, like chores were the best thing in the world. "You also get to help with the ironing, mow the lawn, vacuum the floor, water the plants, wash the car…"

"And how much allowance do I get for all this?" Ashley asked.

"Ten dollars a week," Bob said. **(A/N I think that's around £5 in Britain, I'm British so I have no idea how much ten dollars a week is worth :S sorry if I've got it wrong)**

"_Ten dollars a week_?!" Ashley echoed. She couldn't believe this. How the hell could she live on ten dollars a week? How the hell could _anyone _live on ten dollars a week? And how the hell was she expected to do all those chores? Seriously, no wonder Spinelli was so moody all the time, having to do all those chores for only ten dollars a week!

"Of course, you don't have to do the chores if you don't want to," Bob said, "you just won't get the money."

Ashley sighed- little money had to be better than no money, even if it meant something which, for her, was close to slave labour.

"And you can get a job to earn a bit more money besides," Bob said. "It really helped Spinelli- she works Saturdays and a few hours after school in the toy store in the mall to save up for a car. Hey, now I think about it, I think there was a vacancy there…"

Oh no. Doing all those lame chores was bad enough, but now Bob actually expected Ashley to _get a job_?!

It wasn't fair. Ashley had always wanted to be a model. A glamorous job- she'd get to wear some amazing outfits, be famous, have everyone in the world look up to her. Every guy would want to be with her, every girl would want to _be _her. And she'd be rolling in the money. That was what Ashley had in mind when someone told her to get a job. _Not _working in some stupid toy store in the mall, where she'd be paid peanuts, have to wear a stupid uniform, give up all her free time and, worst of all, work alongside Spinelli. Wasn't it bad enough that they had to go to the same school and now even _live _together? Wasn't it bad enough that all Ashley's family had died, without all this other lousy stuff happening?

After she'd done the dishes- and totally _ruined _her nails doing so- she headed to Spinelli's brother's room, collapsed on his bed and cried. She still couldn't think of it as her room. She still couldn't think of this house as home. Because this house was so… _basic_, compared to what she was used to anyway. And she couldn't relax or do what she wanted, because she was forced to do the chores to live.

She sighed- why did her life have to start getting so hard? It was so easy before. Whenever she wanted something, she could just tell Harold what she wanted and he would get it for her in a minute. Whenever she needed money, she could just bat her eyelashes at Daddy… but Daddy was gone now.

Just like her happiness.

* * *

It was the next day, Tuesday, and it was lunch. The Ashleys were sitting at their table in the cafeteria, eating their lunch. Well- Ashley A, Ashley B and Ashley T were- Ashley Q. was carefully examining everything in her lunchbox. The Ashleys all got their butlers to make them lunch from home so they would know what was in their food- they were all conscious about their weight and they didn't know how many calories were in the food from the school canteen.

Well- Ashley A. _used _to get Harold to make her a lunch from home, made up of low-calorie foods- you could never be too careful. And last night, Ashley had asked Flo to make her a lunch for school, but Flo had said that if she wanted a packed lunch, she would have to make it herself.

But there was one problem: Ashley A. had never even so much as made a sandwich in her life. She'd tried, but it was absolutely useless- and she'd ended up having to eat a school lunch. It was absolutely disgusting.

"So, Ashley A," Ashley B. said. "Like, where are you living now?"

Ashley A. didn't know whether or not to tell the other Ashleys that she was living with Spinelli. If she did, then it could ruin her reputation forever. But if she told them, then maybe they would take pity on her and shower her with sorry gifts and attention. Or Ashley Q. would be able to give Ashley A. lifts to school in her car.

"OK, girls, if word, like, gets round about this, then my reputation is, like, ruined," Ashley A. said.

"Just like your nails?" Ashley T. said, and Ashley B. and Ashley Q. laughed.

"Like, girls, this is, like, not a laughing matter," Ashley A. said, and they stopped laughing. "OK, well, I got fostered, but you know the couple who fostered me?"

"Like, yeah?" The other three Ashleys said at the same time, intrigued.

"Well…" Ashley A. looked around, to make sure that no one was looking. "They're Spinelli's parents."

Three jaws dropped open.

"You mean…" Ashley Q. started, but Ashley A. just nodded glumly. "That's right, girls. I have to live with Spinugly."

"Like, you poor thing, Ashley A!" Ashley T. said.

Ashley B's dark eyes were glittering with evil, which could only mean one thing- she'd come up with an evil scheme. That was normally something only Ashley A did.

"Like, Ashley A, do you realise what this means?" Ashley B. said, a wide grin spreading over her face.

"Like, what does it mean, Ashley B?" Ashley A, said, wondering what Ashley B. was up to.

"We can, like, totally blackmail her!" Ashley B. said, and Ashley Q's green eyes lit up. "That's, like, a great idea, Ashley B!"

"Your are, like, a total genius," Ashley T. said, and Ashley B. smirked. "I know, I know," she said. "OK, so, Ashley A, when is Spinelli, like, not in the house?"

Ashley A. thought hard. "Um… well, she, like, works on Saturday afternoons, and"-

"Perfect," Ashley B. said. "We can all come over to yours this Saturday afternoon when Spinelli's out and, like, do a little snooping in her room."

"That's, like, a great idea Ashley B!" Ashley Q. said.

"We can, like, find something totally embarrassing and like, use it to turn the whole school against her!" Ashley T. said. "Like, her gross underwear or something!"

"Well," Ashley B. said, an evil grin spreading over her face. "I was thinking about seeing whether or not she has a diary, and if she has, then we can, like, steal it and let the whole school know her secrets!"

The four Ashleys laughed and squealed their trademark catchphrase: "SCANDALOUS!!"


	8. The Ashleys' Evil Plan

**Hi guys!! Sorry I haven't updated as quickly as I usually do. But here's another long chapter for you… what will the Ashleys do? Will their evil plan work? Read on to find out!**

It was Saturday morning; Ashley Q, Ashley B. and Ashley T. were all over at Ashley Q's house. In a few hours, they would be in Spinelli's house, in Spinelli's room, maybe even finding something that could potentially ruin her life.

At one thirty, the three Ashleys headed out in Ashley Q's baby blue convertible, towards Spinelli's house. They were surprised at how small it was when they arrived- it was basically your average sized house, one that the average family would live in, but compared to Ashley standards, it was tiny.

"Like, _look_ at that place!" Ashley Q. said, looking at the Spinelli family's house in disgust.

"Like, I know, Ashley Q!" Ashley T. said. "It's, like, _so_ totally ugly."

"And, like, so totally tiny!" Ashley Q. added. "It's, like, a miracle that people can like, live in here."

"I know, like, how does poor Ashley A. survive?" Ashley T. said.

"This house is in, like, _extreme _need of a makeover," Ashley Q. said, and Ashley T. nodded.

"Like, come on girls!" Ashley B. said, getting annoyed with her fellow Ashleys. "We haven't, like, got all day. Spinelli could, like, get back from work anytime soon."

"Like, whatever, Ashley B!" Ashley T. and Ashley Q. said at the same time, and the three girls got out of the car. Today they were wearing matching cardigans, tartan skirts and wedge-heel sandals- in their respective colours, of course. And, obviously, everything they were wearing had a designer label and was very expensive.

The three girls made their way over to the front door, and Ashley B. rang on the doorbell. The front door was opened by a total fashion disaster of a woman- she was at least ten years older than all their mothers, and was wearing a white vest top with some crazy green pants that had some kind of weird red pattern on them. She wore huge red glasses and her brown hair was scooped up into a huge ponytail.

"Hi, you must be Ashley's friends!" The woman said chirpily.

"Like, hi, Mrs. Spinelli!" The three Ashleys chorused sweetly and politely, almost as if they hadn't just been saying mean things about her house just a minute or so ago.

"Oh, please, do call me Flo," Spinelli's mom beamed at them. "You must be Ashley's friends."

Ashley A. herself must have heard them come in, because she appeared at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a hooded top and jeans that were not only too casual, it didn't match what the other Ashleys were wearing, it wasn't designer and it wasn't pink.

"Like, hi girls," Ashley A. said. "Come upstairs, I'll, like, show you where my room is."

The other three Ashleys, lead by Ashley B, hurried up the stairs. They went into Ashley A's room first, just so Flo wouldn't get suspicious.

Ashley Q's green eyes scanned Ashley A's new room, full of disgust. "You have to sleep in _this _pit?"

"Like, don't remind me," Ashley A. said glumly.

"This house is like, so beyond help," Ashley T. said.

Ashley B. nodded. "And your foster mom is, like, a walking talking fashion _tragedy_! Like, no wonder Spinelli dresses like a total loser, it must run in the family."

The other three Ashleys laughed, and then Ashley Q. suddenly remembered something.

"Like, speaking of fashion disasters," she said, "like, Ashley A, what is, like, _with_ your outfit?!"

"Yeah, like, why isn't it designer?!" Ashley T. asked.

"And, it's, like, too casual!" Ashley B. added.

"_And_ it doesn't, like, go with what _we're_ wearing at all," Ashley Q. said.

"And why isn't it pink?!" Ashley A's three best friends all said together, folding their arms at the exact same time. Scary, thought Ashley A, who shrugged. "Just because pink is, like, so totally my best colour doesn't mean, I have to like, wear it _all _the time, you know," Ashley A. said. "We're Ashleys. We look beautiful whatever colour we wear. And I mean, who do you, like, think I am- some stupid cartoon character who wears, like, the same outfit all the time?" **(A/N- I couldn't resist adding that! Does anyone else think it's funny how the Ashleys think they're so stylish, but in the actual TV show, they wear the same clothes in nearly every episode? Coz I do! :P) **

"Yeah, but that's, like, exactly the point," Ashley Q. said. "We couldn't help but, like, notice, Ashley A, that you wore the same shoes yesterday as you did on Tuesday."

Ashley A. shrugged. "So?!"

"_So?!_" Ashley Q. and Ashley T. echoed in disbelief. Had Ashley A. gone mad? Had she forgotten everything that the Ashleys stood for?

"You can't just, like, wear anything twice in the same week!" Ashley T. said.

"It's, like, a violation of everything the name Ashley represents!" Ashley Q. said.

All four Ashleys were now seriously peeved, all with different Ashleys and for different reasons. Ashley T. and Ashley Q. were annoyed with Ashley A. for acting like the Ashley rules didn't matter at all and putting the Ashley name at risk of becoming a laughing stock. Ashley A. was annoyed with Ashley T. and Ashley Q. for giving her a hard time about her clothes; she could wear whatever she wanted, and besides, she didn't ask for that stupid fire to destroy all her clothes, and the innocent lives of her family. They didn't understand at all.

And Ashley B. was annoyed with all of the other Ashleys; ever since they first met in kindergarten, Ashley A. had always been the unofficial leader of the Ashleys. Her family were a little bit richer than the others, and she thought that because of that, she could boss the others around, and Ashley B. was also sick of the way she had to hog the spotlight all the time, and how whatever _she _did was always better than what the others did, like when London got signed up to that dog modelling agency, Ashley Q. and Ashley T. congratulated her, but Ashley A. had to gloat about how much better Paris was, and how Paris had been a cover dog five times. Deep down, Ashley B. had always wanted to be the leader of the Ashleys, and now that Ashley A. had lost her riches, she was no longer able to keep up with the things being an Ashley required- regular manicures, a wardrobe full of designer clothes- come on, the girl had to _wash the dishes _to earn money now! There was no way Ashley A. was going to stay leader of the Ashleys. So this was Ashley B's chance to take over that top spot- if she could become leader of the Ashleys, she'd be the most popular girl in the whole _school _in senior year!

But she needed something to claim the leadership which he knew belonged to her- and she'd had the idea about going in Spinelli's room, which she thought was genius. But now, the other Ashleys were too busy arguing about what Ashley A. was wearing to notice the true brilliance of the idea. It wasn't fair!

"Uh- hello?" Ashley B. said. "Like, are we ever actually gonna do what we came here to do?"

"Oh, yeah!" The other three Ashleys said, remembering the evil plot again.

"Like, Ashley A, show us where Spinugly's room is, then," Ashley B. said bossily, tossing her glossy black hair over her shoulder.

"Like, OK," Ashley A. said, and she showed the other Ashleys to Spinelli's room.

"Whoa, it's even worse than _yours_!" Ashley T. said to Ashley A, who nodded. "The girl has, like, zero taste," she said.

"Well, don't just stand there! Look for something!" Ashley B. ordered bossily, even though deep down, she was hoping it would be _her _that got the big dirt on Spinelli- after all, this was her idea in the first place- if one of the other Ashleys got it then they'd take all the credit. Ashley B. decided it was about time _she _took the spotlight- she'd always been the prettiest of the Ashleys anyway, in her opinion…

"Like, look at all these hideous pictures on the wall!" Ashley T. said, pointing to Spinelli's photo wall. "I can't believe she has, like, pictures of _wrestlers_!"

"And look, a picture of her and Gretchen the geek," Ashley B. smirked.

"Like, gross! I found her underwear drawer!" Ashley Q. shrieked, holding a big pair of pants at arm's length, like they were contagious or something. Which, seeing as they'd come from Spinelli's underwear drawer, they probably were.

"Ew!" Ashley T. giggled, taking out a bra from the drawer and reading the label. "Spinelli's, like, a C Cup!"

"Don't you think it's, like, a little wrong going through Spinelli's underwear drawer?" Ashley A. said. "I mean, like, would any of you like it if someone went through _your _underwear drawer?"

Ashley Q. shrugged. "I wouldn't really mind," and Ashley B. and Ashley T. nodded in agreement. Ashley A. sighed, she knew this was a bad idea… what was that?

Ashley A, who had been standing near Spinelli's bed, not really looking for anything, had just caught a glimpse of a black book which was partway visible under Spinelli's pillow.

Out of curiosity, Ashley A. took the book and opened it, to find pages and pages of Spinelli's loopy handwriting on almost every page. Ashley A. read some of the things she'd written: it was poetry, in fact, no, it was song lyrics.

Ashley A. was engrossed by the book. She knew Spinelli was good at guitar, but she had no idea she wrote her own songs. And as well, they were _good _songs, too- well, the lyrics were good. The lyrics were very deep- what surprised Ashley was that most of the songs were about love. The last song Spinelli had written in the book was called 'I Hate You'. It was about how much she hated two people; the guy she was in love with because he would never love her, and the girl who he was in love with because she was 'better than her'. Ashley wondered if they were real life experiences for Spinelli, and if they were, who the guy and the girl in the song were.

"Like, what have you got there, Ashley A?" Ashley Q. said, spotting Ashley A. was looking interested in the book.

Ashley T. and Ashley B. came over to investigate too. "Is it, like, Spinugly's diary?"

"Like, let me see that!" Ashley B. said, snatching Spinelli's song book from Ashley A's hands. She read the lyrics, a smirk spreading across her face.

"Well well well, girls. It seems Spinelli's not as tough as she thinks she is," Ashley B. said superiorly. "She's written, like, poetry about falling in love and stuff!"

"Scandalous!" The four Ashleys squealed.

"Maybe we should, like, go back to Ashley A's room, so, like, Spinelli's parents don't catch us in here," Ashley T. sensibly suggested.

"Like, good idea Ashley T," Ashley A. said, and the four Ashleys headed back to Ashley A's room.

"So we've, like, got the book, but what do we, like, do _with _it?" Ashley A. asked Ashley B, who, by the smug look on her face, had had an idea.

"We'll, like, bribe Menlo to, like, read it out in morning announcements," Ashley B. said- Menlo still worked in the office and did the morning announcements.

"But, like, how are we gonna do that?" Ashley Q. asked. "I mean, like, Menlo could lose his job."

"Like, don't worry, Ashley Q. I've, like, totally got that under control," Ashley B. smirked. "Menlo has, like, a _huge _thing for Ashley A. So, if he, like, reads the song out in morning announcements, then we can, like, get him a date with her!" Ashley B. said, like Ashley A. wasn't in the room.

"I can, like think of two problems with that," Ashley A. said. "Number one- I've, liked, never liked Menlo, he's a stupid little creep. And number two- I'm with Lawson. What would he say?"

"That's part of the fun," Ashley B. said, grinning menacingly. "We can, like, tell Lawson about the date, and no doubt he'll beat him up. Lawson would like, so totally beat Menlo in a fight like, every time."

"But, isn't that, like, a bit mean?" Ashley A. said.

Ashley B. laughed. "Like, come _on _Ashley A! Just, like, a minute ago, you were like, telling us that you think he's a creep and you'd, like, never date him, and now we're gonna, like, get your boyfriend to beat him up, you're like, complaining?"

"And I don't, like, remember you caring about being mean to people either," Ashley Q. added.

"I don't care about being mean to people!" Ashley A. said.

"Good. And I'll be taking that book," Ashley B. said, taking the book from Ashley A's hands.

"What, so you, like, don't trust me or something?" Ashley A. said, annoyed- she was the one who'd found the book in the first place.

"We'll, like, see you on Monday, Ashley A." Ashley B. said, and with that, her and the other two Ashleys were out of the house, leaving Ashley A. slightly drained. She'd begun to feel like that whenever she'd just spent time with the Ashleys, but she didn't know why…

* * *

It was Monday morning- the morning that the plan to ruin Spinelli's tough girl reputation was going to take place. The four Ashleys had met up at school early and made their way over to the office, where Menlo was sorting some files out. Apart from the fact that he'd grown to be almost six feet tall, Menlo was exactly the same as he'd been in elementary school.

"Ah, good morning Ashleys," Menlo said, smiling- he still liked Ashley A. after all this time. "And what can I do for you on this fine morning?"

"There's, like, an announcement we want you to make," Ashley B. said, stepping forward and giving Menlo the book.

"It's, like, this totally soppy love song Spinelli wrote about a guy," Ashley Q. said.

"You're blackmailing Spinelli?" Menlo said, raising one eyebrow- he'd known these girls for years, he knew what they were like. He knew they were devious, and he knew they absolutely hated Spinelli.

"We don't like to think of it as blackmailing," Ashley T. giggled. "We just, like, like to think of it as, like, totally trashing her reputation."

"So, you want me to read this out over the microphone during morning announcements?"

The four Ashleys nodded, and Menlo's eyes narrowed. "I don't know, ladies, this could cost me my job. What's in it for me?"

"A date with Ashley A," Ashley Q. said, and Menlo grinned. "As long as I choose the movie, we have ourselves a deal," he said, and the bell rang. "Now scoot. Homeroom starts in 1.6 minutes."

"Like, we were just leaving, Menlo," Ashley T. smirked, and Ashley B. grinned. "Yeah. We wouldn't, like, wanna miss the big announcement."

"SCANDALOUS!!" The Ashleys cried, and walked off to homeroom, hugely excited about Spinelli's slushy love song being read out over the tannoy for the whole school to hear.

Once everyone was in homeroom, Menlo turned on the tannoy to make the morning announcements. First he read out the list of official announcements that the principal had given him to read out. The Ashleys sat in their homeroom class, smirking and exchanging excited looks, knowing the moment would come anytime soon… Spinelli glared over at them, knowing that they were up to something, but little did she know that their plot had the potential to ruin her life…

"And now," Menlo's voice announced to the school, "I have one final announcement to make…"

**Yup, I'm gonna leave you in suspense :P Why? Coz I'm evil like that. Muahahahaha… **


	9. Would Have Said I Love You

**I realised just after Chapter 8 was posted that I'd written over 20,000 words!! :O :O :O I couldn't believe I'd actually written that much, and there's still plenty more to come!! So enjoy!!**

The whole school waited in silence, wondering what kind of special announcement Menlo was going to make, when suddenly they heard a sound… but it wasn't Menlo's voice. It was the fire alarm.

"Fire drill!" Mrs. Coleman yelled to her homeroom class. "Everyone remain calm and make an orderly exit."

Everyone in the school walked out to the quad and lined up, in alphabetical order, in their homeroom classes: which meant Ashley B. was just behind Ashley A.

As Menlo walked past, Ashley B. beckoned him over. "You little idiot!" she whispered. "Why didn't you, like, make our announcement first?"

"Because I would have been fired if I didn't make the _regular _announcements first!" Menlo said. "Principal Adams always taught me to make his announcements first."

"Well, we can do this without your help and you can, like, totally forget your date with Ashley A!" Ashley B. said, and smirked as the glimmer in Menlo's eyes disappeared, and was replaced with a vast, empty sadness.

"I don't care," Menlo said, though it was very obvious he _did _care. "The principal would have fired me anyway."

Menlo turned to walk away, but Ashley B. cleared her throat. Menlo turned around.

"The book, you idiot! We, like, need it back." Ashley B. said, and Menlo looked sheepish.

"Omigod," Ashley B. said, panic stricken. "You _have _got the book, haven't you?"

"Um… no," Menlo said, and then, knowing it was wise to stay away when an Ashley got mad, said "Buh-bye" and ran away.

"Like, what are we gonna do now?" Ashley B. said: Ashley A. had never seen her look so mad. Ashley B. fuming- that book was going to fall into the hands of someone else, a someone else that would reveal Spinelli's secrets, a someone else that would become the most popular kid in school. A title that _should _belong to _her_!

"Like, calm down Ashley B." Ashley A. said, knowing that her friend _wouldn't _calm down- but there was still hope. "We'll just have to, like, hope it's not a real fire- and if it isn't, we'll, like, find it when we can go back inside. He'll have, like, left it on the desk."

"_Hope it's not a real fire_?!" Ashley B. screamed- the fire being real and the book burning was a terrible possibility, a possibility she hadn't even considered.

"It was a real fire last time!" Butch said, turning around to face the girls. He was standing in front of Ashley A. (his last name was Allan.) "Last time the fire alarm went, no one thought about calling the fire brigade. Said it would just be someone setting the alarm off. But it _was _a real fire, and they never saw little Jimmy Cratmer again…"

"Dude, will you _stop _telling people that I'm dead?" A voice behind Ashley B. said, and it was Jimmy Cratmer himself, looking, in fact, very alive. Butch sighed and turned around.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Well, you can tell _he's _in the drama club." **(A/N- that was probably MY favourite part of the whole story so far. :D)**

Ashley A. sighed. She didn't want to talk- or think- about people dying in fires. After the tragic experience with fires _she'd _had, it was understandable.

Suddenly, the fire alarm stopped, and everyone started going back in. Ashley A. and Ashley B. waited for Ashley Q. and Ashley T, and Ashley B. furiously told them that Menlo had left the book in the office, and they were outraged.

They hurried to the office, and to their horror, the book was gone.

"What?!" Ashley B. said, distraught. "This, like, can't be happening."

"What are you doing here, Ashleys?" Principal Adams said. TJ Detweiler was standing behind him, looking sheepish.

"Like, nothing, Principal Adams!" The Ashleys all said, then Ashley A. said, "We were just looking for Menlo."

"Well, you won't find him, because he is in class. Like you should be," Principal Adams said sternly. "Off you go."

"Yes, Principal Adams," the Ashleys said, and they headed to English class. Luckily, their teacher, Mr. Smith, was always late, so they didn't get detention.

The Ashleys sat down in their seats, livid about the book being stolen, when Vince came over to them. "Hey, guys! Did you hear?" He said.

"About what?!" Ashley A. said.

"About TJ!" Vince replied.

"Like, what _about _that stupid little worm?!" Ashley Q. said.

"He started the fire alarm!" Vince said.

"Like, really?!" All four Ashleys said, and then Ashley T. said, "That, like, totally makes sense. I mean, when we were, like, looking for Menlo, Principal Adams was there and TJ was like, with him."

"Hi class! Sorry I'm late!" Their teacher, Mr. Smith interrupted them, coming through the door with a mountain of paperwork.

"ASHLEY ARMBUSTER!!" Spinelli screamed that night, and Ashley A. gulped, knowing that Spinelli's ear-splitting yell could only mean one thing: she'd noticed her book was missing. Ashley A. really couldn't believe it had taken her all this time to figure it out- they'd stolen it on Saturday afternoon, it was now Monday night.

Spinelli's face was like thunder as Ashley A's bedroom door was flung open. "Alright, Ashley A, admit it, you've stolen it!"

Ashley A. looked directly into Spinelli's eyes- she'd gotten good at lying over the years. "Like, stolen what, Spinelli?"

"That black book I keep under my pillow!" Spinelli was just as angry as Ashley B. had been earlier. "Don't lie to me powder puff- I know you've taken it!"

"Like, I don't even know what you're talking about!" Ashley A. said.

"Why you little"- Spinelli growled, clenching her fists and stepping towards Ashley A, but then Flo yelled, "GIRLS! DINNER'S READY!"

Ashley A. sighed a sigh of relief, and Spinelli sighed a sigh of disappointment; she'd wanted to beat Ashley A. up for years, now was her chance, and her mom had to ruin it.

"Coming, Mom!" Spinelli yelled back, at the same time as Ashley A. yelled, "Coming, Flo!" And both girls went downstairs for dinner, wondering where the book was.

Little did they know it was closer than they thought.

"We're very disappointed in you, Theodore," Mrs. Detweiler said, a few doors down. "Go to your room."

TJ went to his room and grinned when the door was shut. He'd been suspended for two days for setting the fire alarm off. He had a good reason to set the fire alarm off, though. It wasn't the reason he'd given to his parents and his principal: I thought it would be fun. It was to protect the person he cared about more than anyone else.

He thought back to Saturday, when it all started…

_TJ Detweiler was taking out the trash, feeling miserable- since Spinelli stopped talking to him- and he still didn't know why- he felt miserable more than ever. While he was taking out the trash, he saw three of the Ashleys standing outside Spinelli's house, walking over to Ashley Q's car. Ashley B. had a black book in her hands, and all three of them had smirks spreading right across their faces._

"_I can't believe Spinelli, like, wrote love songs in that book!" Ashley T. said._

"_I know! And, like, I can't wait to get Menlo to read it out in morning announcements on Monday morning!" Ashley Q. said._

"_And totally ruin her reputation… and her life!" Ashley T. said, and all three Ashleys laughed as they got into Ashley Q's car._

"_And remember girls… this was all my idea!" Ashley B. reminded them, and TJ swore he saw Ashley T. and Ashley Q. roll their eyes as the car sped off…_

TJ knew he couldn't let them hurt Spinelli like that, even though Spinelli had hurt _him_ so much. He still cared about her. So that morning he hid behind a display just outside the office, watching and waiting.He witnessed the scene between the Ashleys and Menlo, and the handing over of the book. And just as Menlo was about to read it out for the whole school to hear, TJ set off the fire alarm and hid. He waited until everyone was out the building, and then he ran to Menlo's desk, grabbed the book, put it in his bag and ran. Randall had seen TJ set off the fire alarm but hadn't seen him get the book- he'd already ran to tell a teacher, and that was how TJ was caught.

_And maybe if I tell Spinelli what the Ashleys were going to do and that it was me who stopped Menlo from reading out her songs to the whole school, she'll talk to me again! _TJ thought excitedly.

But then he remembered how upset Spinelli had been when she'd first found out that Ashley A. He knew how much Spinelli and Ashley A. hated each other. Wasn't it already tense enough in that house as it is, without TJ telling Spinelli that the Ashleys had stolen that book?

TJ sighed; he'd just have to give it to her, without an explanation. In person. As soon as he possibly could.

It was the next day, and school had just ended. Spinelli, Kate, Ruby, Sam and Dave were all walking down the corridor, Kate, Ruby and Dave laughing at something Sam was telling them, but Spinelli just couldn't concentrate. She'd not been paying attention in any of her classes, either- much to the annoyance of her teachers.

"What's up, Spinelli?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, you've been distant all day!" Dave said.

Spinelli sighed. "Well, you guys know how I have to live with Ashley A?"

Spinelli's friends nodded. "And boy, do we pity you," Sam said, and Kate, Ruby and Dave nodded in agreement.

"Well, I think Ashley A's stolen my song book," Spinelli said, and thought she could have strangled Kate when she just shrugged. "So?" Kate said blankly.

"So, that has some really personal songs in it, and now Ashley A's got her filthy little hands on it, no doubt all the other Ashleys have laughed at it, and knowing them, they'll tell the whole damn _school _what's in there!"

"Well what's so bad about that?" Kate said. "I mean, people will realise how talented you are, and maybe you'll get into a band or something! Isn't that you've always wanted?"

Spinelli snorted. "Like there's gonna be talent scouts at Second Street High."

"Hey, there's TJ!" Sam suddenly said, pointing at the gates where, sure enough, TJ Detweiler himself was waiting.

"Hey TJ!" Kate said once they reached the gates.

TJ said a simple, "Hey," but did not look at any of them, apart from Spinelli, upon whom his eyes were fixed. All five of them noticed this- Kate, Ruby, Sam and Dave nudged each other and grinned, and Spinelli just frowned at TJ whilst giving him death glares.

"Stop staring at me!" She yelled, and stormed off.

TJ grabbed her arm- he couldn't just let her go! He had to give her the book. "Don't go," TJ said pleadingly.

Spinelli turned around. "I- I have something for you," TJ said, looking deep into her eyes. Those beautiful brown eyes…

"Well, make it quick, I'm gonna be late for work," Spinelli said coldly.

TJ dug into his bag until he found what he was looking for. Spinelli's eyes widened in disbelief as TJ produced that little black book she'd been worrying about all day, that little black book that had kept her awake with worry last night. That little black book that she'd poured her heart into…

"My book!" Spinelli said, snatching the book from TJ and opening it to check that it really _was _her book, not just some other black notebook that they'd thought might be hers. "Omigod, thank you so"- Spinelli trailed off, staring at TJ and realising something. If it was TJ that was bringing her book back to her, then that meant…

"You little _rat_!" Spinelli exclaimed. "You stole it, didn't you?"

"No, of course I didn't!" TJ said, looking pleadingly into Spinelli's eyes. "You know I wouldn't do something like that, Spinelli."

"Right. Well how did you get your filthy little hands on it, if you didn't steal it?" Spinelli said, hands on hips.

Uh-oh… TJ was in trouble now. Spinelli was looking angry. He never thought Spinelli would think _he _stole the book, but he knew it would be wiser not to tell Spinelli the Ashleys had stolen it.

"I found it on a desk! Really I did!" TJ pleaded, it was, after all, the truth. "Please Spinelli, you know I wouldn't do anything like that, I l-"

It was then Spinelli slapped him in the face and ran away in the opposite direction. TJ felt a stinging sensation in his cheek where Spinelli had slapped him, but what hurt more than that was his heart. He couldn't believe Spinelli thought he would do something like that. He was trying to protect her from becoming a laughing stock and that was the thanks he got?

He sighed as he thought back to earlier- maybe it was a good thing Spinelli had slapped him. Because if she hadn't, something stupid would have slipped out.

He would have said, "I love you."


	10. Chaos At Work

**As we come to our tenth chapter, I have a few apologies to make: first of all to all of the readers who get annoyed about spelling/grammar mistakes about the online conversation between Ashley A. and Lawson- it's only brief, and Lawson is supposed to make those mistakes. Secondly that there's been no real Ashley A/Spinelli action since Chapter 6- there's more in this chapter and the next one. And thirdly, if the labour scene is a little unrealistic, I'm sorry, but at the end of the day, I'm 13 years old; I'm not a midwife, I've never given birth, and I've never delivered a baby, so I don't have a clue about that kind of stuff, so please don't give me a hard time if I've got it wrong. Again, thanks for your reviews, and enjoy the story!!**

"Thankyou very, very much, Miss Armbuster. We look forward to seeing you on Monday." Mr. Rowinski, Ashley's new boss, said, shaking hands with her.

"Thanks, Mr. Rowinski. Bye," Ashley A. said.

Mr. Rowinski held the door open for Ashley A. as she left his office. Ashley A. saw Spinelli, on the counter, wearing that gross uniform. The gross uniform she too would have to wear on Monday.

"Don't tell me you got the job," Spinelli said.

"Sorry, Spinelli, but from Monday onwards we'll be, like, working together," Ashley A. said, although she sounded just as happy about it as Spinelli did.

Spinelli snorted. "Ha! As if you'd keep a job. You Ashleys could never manage a job like this. You'll be fired by Friday."

"Well, you're wrong, Spinelli," Ashley A. said, flouncing out of the shop.

On Ashley A's third night of living with the Spinellis, Bob had suggested to her that she got a job at the toy store in the mall where Spinelli worked. And on Tuesday night, he'd brought that back up again. Ashley really didn't want to work in any store- let alone a store where Spinelli also worked- but she knew she had no choice. Ten dollars a week simply wasn't enough, especially if she could only earn _that _through chores. She needed a job, but the toy store was the only shop with a vacancy, so she'd applied for that. Now, it was Saturday, and she'd just had her interview with the store's manager, Mr. Rowinski, and he'd just given her the job; she'd be working alongside Spinelli weeknights after school and a few hours on Saturday afternoons.

Ashley A. was glad to get back to the house; Bob and Flo had gone out somewhere and Spinelli was still at work, so she had the house all to herself. Which meant that she could watch soaps. Even if the TV had a small screen and wasn't as good as the one she used to have, there was nothing Ashley loved more than being alone with a good old soap.

Suddenly, Ashley's cell began to ring. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she glanced at the caller ID. Lawson? Hmm… that was a surprise. She hadn't spoken to Lawson for a while. She'd practically forgot that they were dating.

She flipped her phone open. "Hey, Lawson!"

"You're dumped." Lawson's voice said simply.

"What?!" Ashley A said, but the line had gone dead- Lawson had dumped her and hung up, just like that. Ashley was outraged- not because she loved Lawson, but because no one had ever dumped her before. No one had ever dumped _any _of the Ashleys before!

And yet it was her that had been dumped first. She had always been the unofficial leader of the Ashleys. She had always been the one the other Ashleys looked up to, the richest one, the most stylish one, the one who had won the Little Miss Blush beauty pageant more than the other three.

And now, she'd been dumped.

Ashley A. sighed as she took a seat at the family computer. She logged into a chatroom and saw that Lawson was online, and to her disgust, he was already dating someone else. Needing answers, she started a conversation with him.

**PrettyPinkPrincess: **Why did you break up with me?

**lawsonluvzlola: **beecoz your not rich nemore!

**PrettyPinkPrincess: **Wait… you only started dating me BECAUSE I WAS RICH?!

**lawsonluvzlola: **ye! i cant beeleev it tuk u 2 munfs 2 wurrk that out! not onli r u brok, but ur dum 2!! hahahahahahahaha

**PrettyPinkPrincess: **I'm the one who's dumb when you're the one who can't even spell?

**lawsonluvzlola: **dood itz called chatspeek. n itz KOOL. n ur not!!

**PrettyPinkPrincess: **I can't believe you only dated me coz I was rich! You're such a shallow jerk!

**lawsonluvzlola: **wot dus shallow meen?

A furious Ashley A. blocked Lawson before signing out. She couldn't believe Lawson had the nerve to dump her by phone call and date some other girl just minutes after dumping her (Lola, his new girlfriend, was an extremely dumb, giggly freshman on the cheerleading squad)- those two things alone were bad enough. But now Lawson had actually had the audacity to suggest that guys only liked her because of her money??

And the worst part was that he was right.

* * *

For both Ashley A. and Spinelli, school that week was torture. It was torture for Ashley A. because whenever she looked at the other Ashleys, or she saw Lawson with Lola, she was reminded of what she used to have, but lost, and because she'd lost that, people didn't like her anymore. Since that brief online conversation with Lawson, she'd questioned everyone: if Lawson only liked her because she was rich, did all the other guys she'd dated? Did the other Ashleys? Did the rest of the school? She was even starting to doubt Bob and Flo.

And it was torture for Spinelli because TJ was back, and because Kate, Ruby, Sam and Dave were still friends with him, he was hanging out with him. If things with her and TJ weren't bad enough before, he'd gone and made them worse by stealing her song diary. TJ kept trying to talk to her, but Spinelli had nothing left to say to him: she'd trusted him and he'd let her down. Since TJ had stolen her song book, she'd questioned everyone: if TJ would betray her, would Kate, Ruby, Sam and Dave? Would Gretchen? Would Joey? She was even starting to doubt her parents.

And if school wasn't bad enough for both of them, they had to spend even more time together, because of Ashley starting work at the toy store with Spinelli.

One Saturday afternoon, they were both behind the counter again, experiencing what they both thought was quite a normal work day. Mr. Rowinski had just popped out and was trusting Ashley and Spinelli to look after the store.

"Stop reading that dumb magazine, Ashley," Spinelli said, rolling her eyes. Every day this week Ashley A. had escaped work by reading that dumb fashion magazine, yet Mr. Rowinski still hadn't caught her slacking, and yet she would get the same wage as Spinelli, who actually _worked _at work. Life was so unfair.

"Make me," Ashley A. said simply, turning the page- she wasn't in the mood for dealing with one of Spinelli's mood swings.

"I will," Spinelli said angrily, snatching Ashley A's fashion magazine from her with great force and ripping it to shreds. Ashley A watched in horror, blue eyes bulging with shock.

"I can't believe you, like, just did that, Spinelli!" she said in disbelief.

"Well I did," Spinelli said calmly. "And you can clean that up!"

"Gee Spinelli, like, what rattled your cage?" Ashley A. said, getting down on the floor to clean up the shreds of paper that used to be her magazine.

Spinelli sighed. "You would have no idea," she said, not knowing that she and Ashley A. were more similar than either of them had thought.

And something was about to happen that would make them realise that.

A woman walked into the toy store: she was quite young, very pale and looked extremely scared; she kept looking over her shoulder. And she was very heavily pregnant.

"Excuse me miss, are you OK?" Spinelli politely asked the woman as she made her way over to the counter, trembling like mad.

"Please… hide… me…" The woman whispered, it was obvious she was terrified. "This man… he keeps… following me…"

"Of course, come on, we'll look after you-" Spinelli was interrupted by the woman's scream, a true scream of terror.

A man was standing in the doorway of the store. He was tall and skinny and wearing extremely scruffy clothes. His hair was long and matted, and looked like it hadn't been washed for weeks. He grinned, a menacing grin, revealing yellow teeth. His eyes lit up with evil: Ashley A. and even Spinelli were instantly terrified.

"Nobody move," The man said, not taking his eyes off the woman, eyes that were bulging with evil madness. "That woman is mine… mine to kill."

Ashley A. and Spinelli exchanged petrified looks: and, if the man coming in and threatening to kill the woman weren't bad enough… there was another scream, and the woman was on the floor.

The shock had made her go into labour.

"Omigod!" Ashley said, tucking her blond hair behind her ears. She watched so many soap operas about hospitals (even if the other Ashleys thought they were gross) that she knew just what to do when someone went into labour.

"Spinelli, take off your socks and find me a blanket," Ashley commanded. Spinelli did as she was told; Ashley put Spinelli's red and black stripy socks on the woman's freezing feet and covered the woman's shaking body with the blanket. She placed one hand under the woman's head and said to her calmly, "It's OK, just keep pushing, you're doing a great job, come on, you're going to be OK."

The woman, of course, screamed at her, "I'm going into labour in a toy store. My baby is going to be delivered by a teenager who has no idea what she's doing. And in case you've forgotten… A MADMAN IS THREATENING TO KILL ME!!"

The madman licked his lips. "You and your stupid baby," he said, walking over to the woman, who had frozen in fear. Ashley A. too looked petrified. Spinelli knew she had to do something…

"You ain't killing anyone, pal," Spinelli said, suddenly leaping in front of him.

The madman laughed. "You're just a little teenage girl. Do you really think you can stop me?"

"You underestimate me," Spinelli said, folding her arms- Spinelli had been into wrestling for eight years- she knew all the moves. And she had a black belt in martial arts.

The madman laughed again. "Oh please. Stop trying to be all heroic. You have two options; number one, you can step aside and let me kill that woman and her baby. Number two, you can get in my way and let me kill you, _and _that woman and her baby. The choice is yours."

Spinelli looked at the shaking woman- tears rolling down her cheeks. She had never seen anyone look that scared before and prayed that she would never have to see anyone look that scared again.

Then she turned back to the man, quivering, but not with fear, with rage. "How about the third option," Spinelli said, "you kill none of us!"

Spinelli punched the man in the stomach, thinking this would all be a piece of cake- he was, after all, skinny and bony. But the guy was strong- he grabbed Spinelli's right arm and twisted it right round. Spinelli screamed in agony- she knew he'd just broken it- but she wasn't giving up. The man grabbed her, but she bit him, so hard he had to drop her, gasping in pain. He grabbed Spinelli's hair and tugged on it with a powerful force- Spinelli yowled in pain but couldn't give up, so she kicked the man somewhere private, and he collapsed onto the floor, nearly crying, he was in so much pain. Spinelli smirked, thinking she'd won.

But this wasn't yet over. The man suddenly stood up and cornered Spinelli, reached into his pocket and took out… a knife.

Spinelli, Ashley and the woman giving birth all screamed, and the man smirked.

"You can't beat me now, you little brat," he said, stepping closer and closer towards Spinelli…

"This ends now," A voice said; but it wasn't that of any of the three petrified women in the store. It was a male voice, deep and angry and familiar.

TJ Detweiler ran into the store and leapt in front of Spinelli. "Spin- call the cops! I'll handle this."

"But TJ"- Spinelli said.

"JUST DO IT, SPINELLI!" TJ screamed, and Spinelli had never heard him talk like that before, so she got out her cell phone and called the cops.

"Call an ambulance too, when you're done!" Ashley A. shouted- Spinelli had forgotten that she was there.

After Spinelli had called the cops and the ambulance, she put her phone away and to her horror, TJ was still there, fighting off the guy with the knife.

"TJ, YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!!" Spinelli screamed at him, but he didn't respond. "TEEJ, IT'S TOO DANGEROUS, I'LL FIGHT HIM!!"

Spinelli ran over to fight the madman, but TJ grabbed her round the waist. "You can't! He'll hurt you!" He said, holding her tighter than anyone had ever held her before.

Spinelli struggled to break free. "But I don't want him to hurt _you_!"

"Well, well, well." The madman said, grinning evilly. "The little brat has a boyfriend. How cute."

"WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!!" Spinelli and TJ cried out, despite everything.

TJ glanced at Spinelli in disbelief. "Friends? We're friends? You're friends with me again?"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT WE ARE TJ, JUST GO BEFORE HE HURTS YOU!!" Spinelli screamed.

"Seeing as you two lovebirds can't agree on anything," the madman said, getting angry, "how about… I KILL YOU BOTH?!" He yelled, getting out a knife.

"NO!" TJ and Spinelli screamed- there was no escape. They were cornered. They were defeated. The man would get both of them and then he would get the woman and her baby. Maybe he would even kill Ashley A. Their efforts had gone to waste.

TJ looked at Spinelli; his best friend, the only girl he'd ever loved… she'd never done anything to hurt anyone, and TJ didn't want her to die. If TJ lived, he couldn't imagine his life without her, and even if TJ died, he didn't want Spinelli to have to go through all the pain. He wanted her to die peacefully in her sleep after a long, happy life, not feeling any pain at all.

Not like this. Not at the age of sixteen in a corner of a toy store after being stabbed by a madman.

But if he didn't want Spinelli to die, he'd have to do something… as the man lunged at Spinelli with the knife, TJ leapt in front of her and the knife got him. A pool of blood soaked TJ's clothes as he fell, onto the ground.

"TJ! TJ DON'T LEAVE ME!!" Spinelli yelled, kneeling beside her best friend and secret love, who'd just been stabbed in the chest.

"TJ… please…" Spinelli whispered, so only TJ would hear. "You can't leave me… you mean everything to me and I can't imagine my life without you TJ, I- I- I- I love you…"

TJ opened his mouth to say 'I love you too', but instead of words, blood trickled out. Spinelli was crying, and that last thing TJ remembered thinking was how beautiful Spinelli was even when she was crying.

And then everything went black.

**Bit of an action-packed chapter for you!! As I am an evil super-villain I have decided to end it here… is TJ dead? And will the madman get Spinelli, Ashley A. and the woman going into labour too? Find out in Chapter 11, which will be up ASAP!!**


	11. The Prayer

**I'm actually really surprised with how this chapter turned out… it's loads better than I thought it would be!! I wrote some really long paragraphs. Anyway… enjoy Chapter 11!!**

"OK girls, smile!" The photographer said.

Spinelli and Ashley A. didn't want to smile, though. Even though the police arrived just after the man stabbed TJ, meaning that he couldn't hurt anyone else. The man was arrested, and a few minutes after he was taken away by the police, Ashley A. delivered the woman's baby.

"_Oh, thank you!" The woman said; she was tired, but her eyes were shining with pride and happiness. "Thank you ever so much, both of you! You-" she pointed at Ashley A, "for delivering my baby, and you-" she pointed at Spinelli, "for fighting that man so he couldn't hurt me or my precious daughter… you girls are heroes! How can I ever repay you?"_

"_We don't want a reward," Spinelli said._

"_Yeah, and we're not heroes," Ashley added._

_But the woman wasn't having any of it. "Of course you're heroes!" And then the idea came to her. "I know! I'll name my baby after you. What are you girls called?"_

"_Ashley," they both said, "but you really don't have to name your baby-" Spinelli began, but the woman smiled. "Ashley," she repeated, like it was a magic spell. "That's beautiful." She smiled at the baby, who she was cradling in her arms. "My beautiful little Ashley," she whispered._

_A few minutes after Ashley (the sixth one both Ashley A. and Spinelli knew, including themselves) was born, the ambulance came, and took an unconscious TJ (for obvious reasons), Spinelli (to have her arm examined) and the woman and Little Ashley (because she needed to spend her first night in hospital)._

"_Can I come too?" Ashley A. asked._

"_Are you a relative?" The paramedic asked._

"_Yes, I am," Ashley A. said. "I'm Ashley Spinelli's sister."_

_Technically, it wasn't a lie._

_The ambulance took Ashley A, Spinelli, TJ, Little Ashley and her mother to hospital, where Ashley and Spinelli were greeted by Bob and Flo Spinelli, who were close to tears. They couldn't hug Spinelli because she was taken to have her arm X-rayed immediately, but they hugged Ashley._

"_We heard about what happened," Flo said, bursting into tears as soon as she was in Ashley's arms._

"_We were so worried," Bob added- he wasn't crying but his eyes were watering and his voice was thick and shaky._

"_We're so glad you're OK," Flo said, tears cascading down her cheeks, and Bob nodded. "And we're so proud of you both for helping that woman and stopping that man."_

"_Poor TJ, though," Ashley said. "Do you think he'll be OK?"_

"_We'll just have to hope," Flo said._

"_The man was going to stab her, you know," Ashley said, her voice wavering too. "Until TJ leapt in front of her and saved her."_

_Bob smiled sadly. "He was always like a son to us… he'd always do anything for our Pookie…"_

_Bob burst into tears too, and the three hugged each other tightly, never wanting to let go. Ashley never remembered hugging her real family that tightly… and just thinking of her real family made Ashley remember the last time she was here in this hospital, and that made her burst into tears. _

_Spinelli had broken her right arm and had it put in plaster. When it had been put in plaster, Ashley, Bob and Flo went to see her._

"_Oh, Pookie-" Flo began, but there was only one thing on Spinelli's mind. "TJ," she said. "How's TJ?"_

"_I don't know, sweetheart," Flo said, stroking her daughter's black hair as the tears fell down Spinelli's cheeks. Spinelli didn't like crying- not in front of people, anyway- but she didn't care about looking tough. All she cared about was TJ, and now it was looking like she might lose him…_

It was hard to think that that was only about three hours ago, it seemed like a lifetime ago, and now, a photographer and a reporter from the local newspaper had showed up, wanting to write an article about the day's events and put a picture of Spinelli and Ashley on the front page.

Spinelli and Ashley tried hard to smile, but they just couldn't bring themselves to do anything above a half-smile. The photographer sighed.

"Come on girls, you're heroes, look happy about it!" The photographer said.

"We're not heroes," Ashley A. said, tired of everyone thinking her and Spinelli were heroes just for fighting with a madman and delivering a baby.

"And, in case you've forgotten, my best friend is unconscious, he could die at any minute, heck, he could be dead now, no one's telling me anything." Spinelli said angrily, "HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO SMILE WHEN I'VE GOT ALL THAT ON MY MIND??"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" The photographer said, looking surprised. The reporter was frantically scribbling everything down in her notebook.

An hour later, the reporter had done an interview with them and written some notes for her article, and the photographer had gotten a decent picture of the girls, where they looked at least a little bit happy. They left, leaving Spinelli and Ashley alone.

"Urgh, they were annoying," Spinelli said, once they were out of earshot, and Ashley laughed. "Tell me about it."

"Ashley A? Can I ask you something?" Spinelli said seriously.

"Sure, Spinelli, go ahead," Ashley A. said, wondering what it was.

Spinelli took a deep breath and asked Ashley what she'd wanted to ask her for hours. "In the ambulance, you said we were sisters…"

"Well, I guess we are, in a way," Ashley said. "I mean, your parents are fostering me, and we live in the same house…"

"Yeah," Spinelli said, nodding. "I guess we _are _sisters… kind of."

"Look, Spinelli, I realised something today," Ashley said, wondering how to find the right words. "I realised… how much I actually care about you. While I was helping that woman in labour, I couldn't stop thinking about how you were trying to stop that man, and… well… I was out of my mind with worry. I really didn't want him to hurt you. I should have come and helped you fight him, but… I was… too chicken." Ashley sighed.

"Don't say that," Spinelli said firmly. "You are _not _a chicken, Ashley Armbuster. You did great today, and if you came and fought that guy with me, Little Ashley's mom wouldn't have had anyone to help her. And besides… if you'd fought… you could have got hurt... look what happened to TJ..."

Ashley sighed. "I suppose I should have fought, then… if I had, then TJ might be safe at home…" Ashley trailed off, knowing that Spinelli would blame the whole thing on her, knowing that Spinelli wished it was her wired up to all those heart monitors.

So Ashley was surprised when Spinelli said, "It's not your fault. It's mine. I should have stopped him leaping in front of me like that… he was gonna get me…" Spinelli trailed off, wishing it was herself wired up to all those heart monitors. She knew she deserved it more than TJ.

"We shouldn't blame ourselves," Ashley said, biting her lip. "I mean… nothing we could have done could have changed anything…"

"Yeah, you're right…" Spinelli said, looking at her fingernails.

There was a long, awkward silence between Ashley and Spinelli, when Spinelli suddenly said, "You aren't that bad after all, Ashley A."

"Coming from you, I'll take that as a compliment," Ashley said, smiling, but feeling guilty. The time had come to confess about the stolen song diary…

"Spinelli," Ashley said, "I have to tell you something..."

Bob and Flo suddenly came into the ward. "Are you ready to go home, Ashley?" Bob asked. Ashley nodded.

"We'll come back tomorrow, Pookie," Flo said to Spinelli, planting a kiss on her daughter's forehead and leaving a red lipstick mark on it. "Oops! I got lipstick all over your face." She licked her thumb. "Here, let me clean that off…"

"No, Mom!" Spinelli squealed as Flo rubbed at her forehead. Suddenly it was like fourth grade parents' night all over again... memories of fourth grade all hit her like a ton of bricks; when Mikey discovered he was an amazing singer and fell in love with his singing teacher, when Gus was being picked on by Gelman and stood up to him in front of the whole school, when Vince was branded 'Principal's Pet' by the whole school when he was Principal Prickly's golf partner, when Gretchen became great at yo-yoing and became obsessed with it… they'd survived a heat wave, survived five days of heavy rainfall and torturous indoor recess, broke up completely when TJ couldn't decide who his best friend was, defeated a crazy ex-politician to save summer vacation… they'd been through some pretty tough times. Especially Spinelli. She'd called Miss Grotke 'mama'. She'd been forced to join the Ashleys because she shared a first name with them. She'd thought Kate (Swinger Girl at the time) had gone over the top, and when she hadn't, she was sure that everyone would laugh at her and think she was stupid, and that no one would want to know her again.

But TJ had helped her all those times. It was TJ who'd risked everything by calling Miss Grotke 'mama' and stopping everyone from calling her Mama's Girl. It was TJ who'd thought of the plan that would make the Ashleys vote her out of their club. TJ had been so supportive after Spinelli's beliefs that Swinger Girl had gone over the top were proved wrong.

And then there was that kiss… the experiment, set up by Gretchen after Butch had told them that when they were older, they would like kissing. The gang had drawn straws to see who would have to do it, and Spinelli often wondered whether it was fate that her and TJ had got the short straws. Their kiss behind the dumpster was meant to be kept secret, but the whole school showed up. TJ and Spinelli reluctantly kissed anyway. Spinelli had never kissed anyone before and the fact that she had a little crush on TJ didn't exactly help, but the magical moment where his lips joined with hers was the best moment of her entire life. She wanted it to go on forever, but of course, it didn't, and when they came apart, Spinelli knew in that moment that TJ was the one. That her feelings for TJ had gone from a tiny schoolgirl crush to full-on, head over heels love. And she'd never told anyone how disappointed she'd been when TJ pulled a face and said the kiss was disgusting.

And now look where the gang had gone. Gus, relocated in sixth grade, and God knows how many places he'd lived in since. Gretchen, transferred to a genius school, hadn't spoken to Spinelli for ages. Gus and Gretchen couldn't help having to live in different places, but they could have at least made more of an effort to keep in touch with the gang. And Mikey and Vince, it was their choice to desert their old friends. Spinelli knew that Mikey dreamed of performing at Broadway and Vince dreamed of being a pro basketball star, but they could have followed their dreams and kept their friends at the same time. Spinelli was sick of high school, sick of everyone thinking that they could only hang out with those who had the same interests as themselves.

She wondered what the other four in the old gang would be doing right now. She had no idea where Gus was and hadn't seen him for nearly four years, so couldn't really imagine what he was doing. Gretchen would probably be in her dorm at her genius school, playing chess against her Galileo handheld computer. Mikey would be at Floppy Burger with Kurst, eating some kind of ice cream that everyone else thought was gross but they thought was delicious. And Vince would be hanging out with Lawson and all the jerks, or with Ashley T. somewhere, or at home watching basketball.

She wondered how many of them still cared about TJ.

Why was she thinking of the old gang? The old gang didn't matter anymore. It was the past. It was best to leave the past in the past sometimes. What she _should _be thinking about was TJ. And whether the old gang cared about TJ or not, it wouldn't make him come out of his coma.

Spinelli looked up at the ceiling. "God, if you're really up there, then I need to ask you something," she whispered. "I know I'm not a perfect person. Heck, none of us are, really. But I need to ask you something. I know what you're thinking- here we go again, another girl who never goes to church, another girl who has never prayed for anything before in her life, who's just praying when she wants something, who's just believing in you when in suits her. Maybe you think I'm spoiled. But I'm not gonna ask for money or a pony or a movie star boyfriend. But I'm not. I just want to talk to you about a boy named TJ Detweiler.

"As I'm sure you know, TJ was stabbed today and is now unconscious. And no one knows whether or not he's gonna be OK. And it's killing us inside. Not just me, but his parents, my parents, his sister… _my_ sister… well, sort of, anyway. And I suppose you think I'm gonna beg and beg and beg and beg and beg for him not to die. But I'm not. I don't want him to die, because he's only fifteen, and he hasn't had a chance to do all the stuff he wanted to do. He has big dreams… he wants to write comic books, he wants to go to Europe… he even told me once that he wanted to get married in that red cap he wears. And I know that he'd make a wonderful father one day. And it breaks my heart to think that those dreams of his might not come true.

"But I'm not going to ask you to let TJ live, because whether he dies or not is down to fate, and no matter how much I'd like to, I can't stop fate. I'm just going to ask you this; _please _let the doctors find out soon if he's going to be OK, and please let this pain be over soon. Because even if he dies, the pain can't be any worse than not knowing. And if he does die, please watch over him, and make sure that in heaven or wherever it is dead people go, he's happy, and that he doesn't watch too much TV, or his eyes will go square… oh, I sound like his mom or something. Why am I babbling? The most important thing I want you to do for me if TJ dies is… is… to tell him… how much… I love him…" Spinelli was in tears now, shaking uncontrollably and letting out huge, loud sobs.

"Anyway… thanks for listening, God… I'm sorry if you think I'm being greedy, but I have something else to ask of you… make sure Little Ashley has a long, happy life… she'll be pretty lucky if her life is half as amazing as TJ has made mine." Spinelli snuggled down in her hospital bed, wondering if prayers were answered, and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

"Ashley Spinelli?" An unfamiliar voice said, the next morning.

Spinelli groaned; she was having the most wonderful dream, she was in fourth grade again. What she wouldn't give to have those young, carefree days back.

But now, here she was: in the real world, with a broken arm and no idea whether or not TJ was going to live.

Spinelli opened her eyes and saw her nurse. "What do you want?" she said to her.

The nurse said, "I have some news on your friend TJ Detweiler…"

**Sorry all those who wanted to know if he was dead or not!! I pinkie promise you'll find out in the next chapter!! :D**


	12. An Ashley Emergency

Spinelli instantly sat up in bed, hoping that this would be good news. "What is it, nurse?"

The nurse broke into a huge grin. "TJ woke up from his coma ten minutes ago, and he would like to see you."

"YES!" Spinelli cried. This was the best news she'd heard for ages! "Can I see him now?!"

"Of course you can," the nurse said, smiling kindly. "But please be careful, dear… don't get too lively… he's still very weak, and you have a broken arm…"

"I'll be careful, I promise!" Spinelli said.

"Come on then," the nurse said, grinning. "I'll take you to see him."

Spinelli looked up at the ceiling and grinned. "Thanks, God. You rock!" she whispered, feeling like she was going to explode with happiness as she followed the nurse to TJ's ward.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ashley T. was getting ready to go and play golf with her daddy. She was quite happy about this, because she hardly ever saw him these days; all he ever did was work.

She was applying her lip gloss when her cell phone began to ring. She glanced at the caller ID; it was Ashley B.

Ashley T. answered her cell phone. "Like, hi, Ashley B!" Ashley T. said. "Listen, I'd, like, love to chat, but I can't, I'm, like, playing golf with my daddy-"

"Ashley emergency! We have an Ashley emergency!" Ashley B. said, and Ashley T's face fell- if there was an Ashley emergency, that could only mean one thing…

"Get to my place, like, NOW!" Ashley B. ordered. Ashley T. rolled her eyes. "Like, I'm sorry, Ashley B, but this is, like, the only day my daddy gets off work, and I can't, like, give up our golf game just because you broke a nail-"

"You are, like, so stupid Ashley T!" Ashley B. screamed. "As if I'd, like, call an Ashley emergency for a broken nail! It's, like, way more important than a broken nail, and way more important than your stupid golf game with your stupid daddy. And if you don't, like, come to my house this instant then you'll be, like, kicked out of the Ashleys!"

Ashley T. sighed. She'd been looking forward to this for days, and Ashley B. had just gone and ruined it. "Fine, I'll be right over," she said, ending the call. She felt bad at first, but then she remembered all the times her dad had let her down and figured he'd have to live with it.

She was dropped off at Ashley B's mansion by her butler, and she saw Ashley Q. walking up the long, winding path to Ashley B's house.

"I, like, cannot believe this," Ashley Q. said, looking annoyed. "I was just about to, like, have a facial and a pedicure, and now I have to be _here_!"

"I, like, totally know what you mean, Ashley Q." Ashley T. said. "Like, I was going to play golf with my daddy, and it was, like, the only time he wasn't working, but Ashley B. like, made me cancel."

"This had, like, better be good," Ashley Q. complained, ringing the doorbell.

* * *

"Here she is, TJ," The nurse said gently. "I'll leave you two alone," she said, leaving and closing the curtains behind her.

TJ sat up in bed and beamed at Spinelli. Because he blacked out after the man stabbed him, he'd had no idea whether or not she'd survived. Had she gotten more beautiful overnight? It looked like it… even though she looked tired, had bed hair and was wearing the hospital gown.

"Spinelli… I've been so scared… I thought… I thought I might lose you…" TJ whispered.

Spinelli smiled sheepishly. Before, she'd been feeling happy, excited and immensely relieved that TJ had woken up, but now they were alone together, and face to face, she just felt guilty and even a little bit nervous. She hadn't exactly been a great friend to him over these past couple of weeks.

TJ noticed that Spinelli wasn't looking him in the eyes. "What's up, Spinelli?" He asked gently.

"Nothing," Spinelli said, although TJ could tell there was something.

"I know something isn't right, Spinelli," TJ said gently. "We've been best friends for almost twelve years… I know you better than anyone, so there's no point lying."

Without warning, Spinelli burst into tears. "TJ… I'm so sorry… I've been a… lousy friend… and you deserve… better friends… than me…"

"What are you talking about?" TJ said. He hated it when Spinelli cried, because she was so tough; she never cried in front of people, and if she was losing it, then things must be bad. And there was the fact that he loved her and hated seeing her in any kind of pain, whether it be physical or emotional. "You're the best friend I've ever had, and I don't know what I'd do without you."

Spinelli gave TJ a one-armed hug and sat at his bedside. "I'm sorry, TJ," Spinelli said. "I'm sorry I fell out with you in the first place- I don't know what got into me, I was stupid, I guess I was just a bit upset coz my life sucked, and then the whole thing with my song diary, I don't know why I ever doubted you, I should have trusted you, I should have known that-"

"Spin, it's OK, I forgive you," TJ said, holding Spinelli's free hand. Both of them felt a tiny spark as their skin made contact. Spinelli was confused: was TJ holding her hand? And why?

"Spinelli… I need to talk to you," TJ said, taking a deep breath. Ever since his return to consciousness, he'd had one thing in his mind that wouldn't leave him alone.

Because he remembered, in the store, as he lay there in Spinelli's arms… he remembered her say to him that she loved him. And now they were finally alone together, he _needed _to know if it was true, or if he'd remembered wrong. He hoped it was true; he'd loved Spinelli for years and never even thought of her loving him back, but now he had a tiny flicker of hope. And he needed to know where he stood now, because he didn't want to get hurt. Sure enough, Spinelli telling him she only liked him as a friend would hurt now, but it would hurt even more if his hope got even stronger. If Spinelli told him now that she didn't feel the same way about him, then it wasn't going to be easy, but he would get over her. He would get a girlfriend and move on.

"What is it, Teej?" Spinelli asked, looking concerned.

TJ looked at the ground. "I- uh- kind of- remember something- you said… before I blacked out."

Spinelli froze. She remembered exactly what she'd said. She'd told TJ that she loved him.

And now TJ had remembered and he was going to break it to her that he didn't feel the same way. He'd say it gently, but it would still break her heart. He'd do the typical, 'we can still be friends' and 'there's plenty more fish in the sea' speech, but she wanted to be _more _than just friends, and she didn't want any other guy- she wanted TJ.

"You- you said… you said that you loved me," TJ said, and bit his lip, waiting for Spinelli's reply.

Spinelli felt TJ's brown eyes, searching her face for any emotion that might give the game away. She wished he would stop looking at her- it was so hard to lie to TJ.

"I- uh- gotta go," Spinelli said, getting up from the bedside chair. "Um… my mom and dad… they're visiting me in a few minutes," she said, and once she was out of the intensive care unit, she ran. Broken arm or no broken arm, she ran and ran and ran and ran until she was back at her ward.

TJ sighed. All he wanted was to know where he stood in Spinelli's heart, but she wasn't co-operating at all. He needed to know, but he couldn't even leave his hospital bed, and he had a weird feeling she wouldn't be back to visit him for a while.

Spinelli sighed. All she wanted was to not got her heart broken, but she had a strange feeling running away might not have been the right thing…

* * *

"Like, hello girls," Ashley B. said, standing aside to let Ashley Q. and Ashley T. in. "Like, take your shoes off before you, like, come in, and follow me."

Ashley Q. and Ashley T. followed Ashley B's instructions, and they followed her up the stairs to her yellow bedroom.

All three Ashleys sat on Ashley B's yellow four-poster bed. "Like, where's Ashley A?" Ashley T. asked.

"Yeah, we can't, like, have an Ashley emergency meeting without, like, all four of us!" Ashley Q. said.

"But girls… Ashley A. _is _the Ashley emergency!" Ashley B. said, and she picked up a copy of this morning's local newspaper. Ashley Q. and Ashley T. gasped in shock at what they saw; the front page had a picture on it of Ashley A. and Spinelli on it. The Ashleys couldn't decide what was worse- Ashley A's outfit, a hideous red polo shirt and red cap that looked oddly familiar, or the fact that her and Spinelli were smiling at the camera like best friends. The headline was simply one word: _TEAMWORK._

"Teamwork?" Ashley Q. cried. "_TEAMWORK?! _More like fashion tragedy!"

"Like, I know! And that totally hideous ensemble Ashley A's wearing looks like a _work uniform_!" Ashley T. gasped.

"Ashley A. has a _job_?!" Ashley B. said. "Ugh. The true sign of poverty is when you have to, like, get a job."

"Why are they, like, on the front page anyway?" Ashley T. asked.

"They're probably, like, number one on the World's Worst Dressed List," Ashley Q. said, and her and Ashley T. laughed.

"_Yesterday afternoon, in Terrific Toyz toy store_- ugh, spelling something with a 'z' instead of an 's' is, like, soooo last year- _two teenage foster-sisters teamed up to save a woman and her baby from a man armed with a knife._

"_Ashley Armbuster, 15, and Ashley Spinelli, 16, both sophomores at Second Street High School, were working their Saturday afternoon shift at the store. Their boss, Mr. Mark Rowinski, had to go out somewhere and left the two teenagers in charge of the store._

"'_It started out like a regular day of work' Ashley Spinelli told us. 'Then this woman walked in. She was heavily pregnant and you could tell she looked petrified. She asked us if she could hide in the store because she was being stalked, but before we could help her, the man himself walked in.'_

"'_The woman was so shocked to see him again that she went into labour,' said Ashley Armbuster. 'So I used my knowledge of hospital-based soap operas to help deliver the baby'_- like, wait one minute, you're telling me Ashley A. like, watches those totally gross hospital soaps?" Ashley B. said, outraged.

"Well, you've gotta admit, some of the doctors are pretty hot…" Ashley T. began, but the evil glare Ashley B. gave her told her she'd said to much.

"_While Ashley Armbuster was delivering the baby_," Ashley B. continued, "_Ashley Spinelli bravely fought the man, who was armed with a knife, to stop him from getting to the woman. She managed to hold him off until Theodore 'TJ' Detweiler, a fifteen-year-old friend of Ashley Spinelli, turned up at the store. He told Ashley Spinelli to call the police and an ambulance while he held him up._

"_Ashley Spinelli said, 'TJ and I have been best friends since we were four, and I was so scared that the man with the knife would hurt him.'" More on Page 4._"

Ashley B. turned the page to Page 4, where there were three more pictures; a picture of a woman cradling a baby, a mugshot of a guy who was probably the guy who did it, and a picture of TJ in his back yard, wearing his red cap as usual and grinning.

"_What happened next was that the man, Rupert Williams, 27, cornered Ashley Spinelli and was just about to stab her when TJ leapt in front of her and took the stabbing. He was stabbed in the chest and is in a coma. Doctors don't know if he is going to survive._

"_The police arrived just afterwards and arrested Williams on suspicion of attempted murder. The charges could go up if TJ dies. An ambulance arrived minutes later. Ashley Armbuster luckily got out with no injuries and Ashley Spinelli has a broken arm._

"_Diane Thompson, 22, the woman the girls helped, said, 'I dread to think what would have happened to me if they hadn't helped me out. My baby and I would both be dead. I named my baby girl Ashley in honour of them.'_- like, another Ashley? God, she'd, like, better be pretty," Ashley B. said in disgust. "We already have one disgrace to the Ashley name- maybe even two."

Ashley B. put the newspaper away. "But anyway, girls. We have to, like, decide what we're doing about Ashley A. Since we can't, like, use her to get information on Spinelli anymore-"

"Why not?" Ashley Q. said, and Ashley B. said, "Because, stupid, we already tried once, and it, like, backfired. If we try to, like, steal any of Spinelli's stuff again, she'll, like, get suspicious, and it'll backfire _again_."

"Well, we can't, like, keep her in the Ashleys," Ashley T. said, and Ashley B. clapped her hands together and said, "Exactly! She is, like, a total disgrace to the Ashley name. She is, like, losing her Ashley touch. Lawson dumped her- and we _true_ Ashleys _never _get dumped. The teachers don't favour her anymore- like, even they can tell she's turning into a loser. She has to, like, work and do chores to earn money. None of her clothes are designer. And her house is like, a total shed. If we let her carry on, like, disgracing the Ashley name like this, pretty soon, the rest of us will get the 'loser bug'. Wearing an outfit twice in the same week. Not being able to afford our weekly manicures. Getting _dumped_. We have to, like, stop this, once and for all, and kicking Ashley A. out is, like, the only way."

Ashley T. and Ashley Q. exchanged glances.

"But we can't just, like, kick her out!" Ashley Q. said, and Ashley B. smirked.

"That's the fun part," she said. "We _can't _just kick her out. So we're gonna, like, figure out a way to totally humiliate her- in front of as many people as possible- and _then _kick her out."

"Why can't we just, like, tell her she's kicked out and be done with it?" Ashley T. asked.

"Because that would be boring!" Ashley B. exclaimed. "Now, does anyone have an idea?"

"We could, like, tell her your birthday party's a costume party, and then, like, everyone will laugh at her when we're in cool clothes and she's in fancy dress." Ashley T. suggested.

"Ashley T, do you know nothing? That idea is, like, _so _last month!"

Ashley T. sighed, getting more annoyed with Ashley B. by the minute. She was becoming just like Ashley A. was before- but worse.

"We could, like, spread a rumour that she's pregnant," Ashley Q. suggested.

"Like, _p-lease _Ashley Q. We're the Ashleys. We can, like, do better than that." Ashley B. said, sticking her nose in the air.

And then it came to her. The perfect way to humiliate Ashley A. In front of the whole school.

"Like, I have an idea, girls…" Ashley B. said, smirking. This was gonna be good…

**Yup, more Ashley evilness :P And come on, you didn't really think I'd kill TJ, did you? :D Please review, Chapter 13 is on it's way!!**


	13. Welcome To The Family

**A/N- second chapter in a day! I'm on a roll, people. xD**

Spinelli was released from hospital on Wednesday night. She spent Thursday at home. But it was hopeless; Spinelli was right-handed, so without her right arm, she could hardly do anything. The only thing she could do was watch TV, and even with that she couldn't change the channel.

And when there was nothing on TV, Spinelli was bored out of her mind. She sighed. She'd always been feisty, independent and tough- she hated feeling like a cripple.

She reached for her phone and flipped it open. She discovered she'd received seven text messages from Sunday morning and afternoon- even though that was when TJ woke up, no one else found that out until six at night, when it was on the local news. All of the text messages asked if she was OK and said they hoped TJ would get better and that they'd be thinking of her. Most were from people Spinelli was expecting to hear from- Kate, Ruby, Sam, Dave, even Gretchen. But what really surprised her were the two from unknown numbers. One had said it was from Vince and the other had said it was from Mikey. Spinelli supposed Ashley A. had given Vince her number and had no idea how Mikey got it, but she was just glad that they still cared. The seven also sent her texts on Sunday night, saying things like, _Omg! So glad TJ's OK! Hope your arm gets better soon!_

Of course, Spinelli couldn't text back with only one arm, but she'd be seeing them all- apart from Gretchen- tomorrow anyway, when she made her return to school. Her mom had insisted that she should wait till she got her plaster off, but she actually wanted to go- she hated sitting around at home with nothing to do. The sooner her arm recovered, the better.

TJ was still in hospital but out of intensive care and had miraculously made a full recovery, but Spinelli hadn't seen him since Sunday… the day TJ had woken up, the day TJ had remembered Spinelli telling him she loved him. Spinelli didn't want to see him- she knew she would have to face him sometime, but she just didn't want to, because she knew he would ask her about it, and she just didn't want her heart broken.

TJ sat in his hospital bed day after day, feeling lonelier than he ever had done in his life. He got a lot of visitors. His parents, his grandparents, his big sister Becky and his older brother Harvey, Sam, Dave, Ruby and Kate, Diane Thompson, the woman in the store… even Vince and Mikey. He was glad that so many people cared about him; especially Vince and Mikey, but the one person he wanted to see more than anyone else wasn't there. He was beginning to regret ever mentioning her saying she loved him, because as soon as he'd mentioned it she'd ran away and never come back. But on the other hand, he still needed to know.

On Wednesday night his curtains opened, and his heart skipped a beat; but it was just one of the nurses. "I have good news, TJ," the nurse said, smiling. "We think we can release you on Sunday. You've made an amazing recovery."

TJ smiled. Sunday… if he was going home on Sunday, then he'd be back at school on Monday or Tuesday. And that was when he'd get answers.

TJ's parents, like Spinelli's, wanted him to stay at home for a day after his release from hospital. So he was back at school on Tuesday. All he wanted was to talk to Spinelli in private, but he was the centre of attention.

Kids crowded round him- not only kids he knew, but freshmen, juniors and seniors that he didn't know.

"TJ, it's you! My heart sings with joy at your return," Mikey said poetically, and the kids from the drama club nodded.

"Teej, man… we all thought you weren't gonna make it," Vince said, hanging his head- not surprisingly, the rest of the popular kids weren't in the crowd.

TJ was glad that his old friends still cared about him, but he was relieved to lose the crowd and see Ruby, Kate, Sam and Dave.

"Thank God," TJ said to them. "I didn't think they'd ever leave me alone. Uh, have you seen Spinelli?"

"Oh- she's at the hospital," Kate said, and TJ's eyes bulged with horror. "Oh no! What happened to her?!"

Dave laughed. "Relax, dude. She's just having her arm looked at again."

Sam nodded. "She said if everything goes according to plan, she's getting the plaster off next week."

TJ sighed- it was partly a sigh of relief that nothing serious had happened, and partly a sigh of disappointment that he wouldn't get to talk to Spinelli till tomorrow.

That night, Ashley B, Ashley Q. and Ashley T. were having a three-way phone call.

"OK, does everyone, like, know the plan?" Ashley B. said.

"Like, I do!" Ashley Q. and Ashley T. both said at the same time.

"Good. So Ashley Q, you've, like, definitely checked it's spaghetti on the lunch menu tomorrow?"

"Like, yeah," Ashley Q. said. "And it's, like, chocolate cake for dessert, so we could get some of that, too."

"Good. And Ashley T, you've, like, told Ashley A. to wear white tomorrow?"

"Like, yeah," Ashley T. said. "I've, like, told her white is the hot colour this season, and that we're all wearing it tomorrow- so you'd, like, better wear white tomorrow too, or she'll, like, totally get suspicious."

"OK," Ashley B. said. "And I've, like, paid a photographer from the school paper, and, paid the editor too. So we're all set up."

"SCANDALOUS!" All three Ashleys said before hanging up.

The next day, Spinelli was back. At lunch, Sam and Dave had detention, Ruby was off sick and Kate had mysteriously vanished somewhere and not told anyone where she was. So even though the canteen was noisy and crowded, it was the only chance TJ would have.

"Oh, man, spaghetti has got to be the hardest thing to eat with your left hand," Spinelli complained, as they sat down next to each other at their usual table. Spinelli made a few attempts to get the spaghetti round her fork using her left hand, but it was no good- she just couldn't do it.

Spinelli sighed, putting the fork down. "I can't do it."

"What, you're gonna give up, just like that?" TJ said in disbelief. Spinelli nodded glumly. "But you can't just give up like that! You're the toughest girl I've ever met! You _never _give up!"

"There's a first time for everything," Spinelli said glumly, pushing her tray aside.

TJ sighed, hating to see her like this. "No there's not," he said. "I'll help you."

He got Spinelli's tray, got the fork and easily got some spaghetti on it. "OK, Spin, open your mouth."

"Oh no," Spinelli said, but she was grinning.

"Oh yeah," TJ said. He made the fork go nearer and nearer to Spinelli's mouth, doing an aeroplane noise, as if he was feeding his little sister.

"Not the aeroplane noises!" Spinelli laughed, as TJ fork-fed her spaghetti. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have a friend like TJ. A friend who'd help her with anything, even fork-feeding her spaghetti as if she was a toddler. This was when she was happiest, she decided. When she was with TJ.

Meanwhile, the Ashleys were in the lunch queue, all wearing white.

"Like, why are you getting lunch from the school canteen anyway?" Ashley A. asked the other Ashleys.

"Oh… um… our butlers couldn't make it, because they're, like, at a butler convention!" Ashley T. said. It wasn't exactly the most believable excuse, but hey- she had to think fast, and she wasn't as cunning and devious as Ashley B.

Ashley A. saw that the Ashleys were loading their trays with spaghetti and chocolate cake, which they usually avoided. "Um, Ashleys, hasn't spaghetti and chocolate cake got, like, tons of calories?"

"Yeah, but we're, like, not on a dumb diet anymore," Ashley Q. said. "_Everyone_ knows that skinny is out and curves are in."

Ashley A. just shrugged, and the four Ashleys sat down at their table, Ashley B. searching for the photographer from the school paper. Ashley B. found her hiding, waiting for the moment. Ashley B. gave her a nod, telling her to get ready.

"Anyway, Ashley A, we, like, have something to tell you," Ashley B. said.

"What's that?" an unsuspecting Ashley A. asked innocently.

Ashley B. nodded at the other two Ashleys. Ashley T. and Ashley Q. smeared their food all over Ashley A's clothes.

Ashley A. shrieked in horror. "Like, what was that for?" she demanded, putting her hands on her hips and pouting.

Meanwhile, TJ was still fork-feeding Spinelli spaghetti, completely unaware of what was going on at the Ashleys' table. TJ still had the question on his mind.

"Spinelli, I need to talk to you about something," TJ said, taking a deep breath and hoping this time Spinelli would give him answers.

Spinelli grinned. "What, you want to fork-feed me my chocolate cake too?"

"No- it's not that," TJ said, biting his lip.

Spinelli noticed TJ chewing on his lip; he only did that when he was really nervous about something. "Oh God, this is really serious, isn't it?"

TJ nodded. "It's… about… the day at the store, just before I blacked out." TJ gulped, wondering if this was a good idea. But he couldn't back down now. "You… you said that you loved me…"

Spinelli's heart sank with worry; oh God, why was he bringing that up again? Did he really want to make a fool out of her?

"Is it true?" TJ whispered.

Spinelli bit her lip- what was she going to say? She didn't want to admit to TJ that she was in love with him, but she was a terrible liar- either way, TJ would find out and break her heart…

"Like, attention everyone!" Ashley B's voice said, about ten times louder than usual. Spinelli sighed, a sigh of relief, as her eyes turned towards Ashley B, just like the eyes of everyone else in the room. TJ sighed too- a sigh of disappointment, he was just about to find out, and Ashley B. had to go and interrupt.

Ashley B. was ten times louder than usual because she was speaking with a megaphone. She was stood up on her table, and Ashley A. was covered in food.

"We Ashleys have, like, decided to kick Ashley A. out of the Ashleys," Ashley B. said, to the shock of everyone else in the canteen. "I officially declare Ashley A. a LOSER!!"

Everyone laughed as Ashley B. stepped down from the table and smeared her chocolate cake in Ashley A's face and poured her spaghetti over her head. Kate, the photographer from the school paper Ashley B. had paid, got out and took a picture of Ashley B. triumphantly pouring the spaghetti over Ashley A's head. Kate had captured Ashley A's horrified expression perfectly.

"Tell Ashley B. I'll send her the picture tonight," Kate said to Ashley T. She couldn't believe the Ashleys had paid her twenty bucks just to take a picture of Ashley A. with food all over her. The picture would be going on the front page of the school newspaper tomorrow, and Ashley B. was going to put it on her internet blog.

"YOU BITCHES!!" Ashley A. screamed at her three former best friends, who cackled with laughter as she ran to the girls' bathroom in floods of tears.

Spinelli felt anger bubble up inside of her. She used to hate Ashley A, but since the incident at the store, she'd realised Ashley A. wasn't really such a bad person after all, and they weren't exactly best friends, but they respected and admired each other now, and Spinelli was so angry with the other Ashleys for humiliating her in front of the whole school.

Spinelli grabbed her bottle of water and marched over to the Ashleys' table.

"Like, what do _you _want, Spin_ugly_?!" Ashley B. said.

Even with her left hand, Spinelli still managed to throw her water all over Ashley B, who screamed.

"Oops," Spinelli smirked, turning around and walking away from the Ashleys.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, SPINELLI!!" Ashley B. screamed after her. She turned to the other two Ashleys, who were gaping after Spinelli. "WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE, DO SOMETHING!" Ashley B. screamed at them.

"What are we, her freakin' personal slaves?" Ashley T. whispered to Ashley Q, who looked as annoyed as she felt. But nonetheless, they still grabbed some cloth and desperately tried to mop up Ashley B's outfit. But it had already gone completely see-through, revealing her mismatching underwear- black and white polka dot pants and a bright yellow bra.

"Looking hot, Ashley B!" Some seniors said, wolf-whistling as they walked past. Ashley B. flounced off, Ashley T. and Ashley Q. worriedly following her.

TJ watched them all go. Again, Spinelli hadn't answered him. But every time she didn't answer him, he just got hungrier for an answer. He was _desperate _now. And he was going to find out how Spinelli felt about him, whatever it took.

He got up from his table, leaving the rest of his lunch, and looked for her all over school.

Unfortunately for TJ, Spinelli was in the one place that was out of bounds to him.

Spinelli entered the girls' bathroom. "I know you're in here, Ashley A," she said.

She heard a sniff come from inside one of the cubicles. "Like, get lost, Spinugly. I know you're just here to laugh at me."

"Well, you're wrong. I came to help you, actually."

"I don't, like, need your help," Ashley A. said snootily.

"You sure?" Spinelli said.

"Yes, now get lost!"

"What if I told you I had some spare gym kit from lost property in my bag?"

Ashley A's cubicle door opened, and Spinelli grinned, taking the clothes out of her bag. "I'm sorry they aren't exactly stylish," she said, handing the clothes to Ashley. She'd never seen her in such a mess. She'd managed to get most of the chocolate cake off her face, but she still had spaghetti in her hair, and orange and brown smears all over her clothes- and because they were white, they were more obvious and harder to wash off. And instead of having chocolate cake on her face, she had mascara all down her cheeks because she'd been crying so much.

Ashley managed a small smile. "It's better than going round like a walking trash can."

Ashley closed the toilet door again to get changed. When she opened the door again, she seemed considerably happier that she was wearing clean clothes, but still had spaghetti in her hair. Between them, they managed to get it all out after about ten minutes of picking it out, piece by piece.

"Thanks, Spinelli," Ashley said weakly, as Spinelli dug into her bag for some wipes to get Ashley's makeup off with. "Who'd have thought you'd have wipes in your bag?"

Spinelli laughed. "Just when I thought you knew mom well," she said, handing a wipe to Ashley, who began to scrub at her face. "She's so embarrassing. She makes me carry wipes around everywhere."

Ashley laughed. "Just the other day she called me 'poppet'."

Spinelli grinned. "You know what that means?"

"What?" Ashley asked curiously.

"She gives each other her kids their own embarrassing nickname," Spinelli grinned. "When Vito was alive, it was 'sweetie-pie'. When Joey was at home, it was 'diddums'. I'm 'pookie'… heck, she even calls dad 'pumpkin' sometimes, and he calls her 'chicken licken'. But you have an embarrassing nickname too…" Spinelli's grin got even wider, and Ashley grinned too. "It's official, Ashley. You're one of us now, whether you like it or not. Welcome to the family."


	14. Phone Call

**A/N- this chapter got off to a bit of a slow start, but I'm quite pleased with how the rest of it turned out. Enjoy.**

The next day, Spinelli and Ashley walked into school together and saw the other Ashleys standing in a line with Ashley B. in the middle, hands on hips, grinning.

"Like, hello losers," Ashley B. said, smirking. "Have you, like, seen today's school paper?"

Ashley T. and Ashley Q. got out copies of the school paper, which had the headline, _ASHLEY A. KICKED OUT OF ASHLEYS _and a picture of Ashley A with spaghetti and chocolate cake stained clothes and a horrified face.

"Yeah, just like we saw your neon bra yesterday, Ashley B," Spinelli said, and smirked at how Ashley B's dark eyes lit up with anger whilst Ashley Q. and Ashley T. tried to stifle their laughter. "Now, excuse us," Spinelli said, and her and Ashley barged through the other Ashleys and walked to Ashley's locker.

First period that morning was science, which Spinelli, Ashley and Kate all had together.

"OK, CLASS!!" Mr. Nelson, their teacher, shouted. No one knew whether he was deaf or he just liked to make himself heard. "LISTEN UP!! TODAY, WE'RE GOING TO DO **THIS **EXPERIMENT!" Mr. Nelson pointed at the board, where he'd written instructions. "NOW **HOP TO IT!!**"

"OK, Spin, you get the Bunsen burner and the safety goggles, and I'll get the tripod and the conical flask," Kate said, grinning.

Spinelli shook her head. "What if I don't wanna be your partner?"

"Oh, come on Spinelli, we've been partners every science lesson this year-"

"Well I'm being Ashley's partner from now on," Spinelli said, folding her arms across her chest. "I saw what you did yesterday. I know it was you that took that photo."

Kate went bright red. "But- I didn't think you'd care! You _hate _Ashley A!"

"Not anymore, and it's no excuse." Spinelli said. Ashley A. couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew her and Spinelli were sort-of friends now, but she couldn't believe Spinelli was choosing her over one of her friends.

"But- the other Ashleys- they paid me! And I was broke!" Kate pleaded. Spinelli rolled her eyes. "Well maybe you should do some chores or get a job. Now get out of our way."

* * *

Spinelli and Ashley hung out together for the rest of the day. When they had classes together, they sat next to each other, and ate together at lunch.

Ashley looked over at the Ashleys' table. This time yesterday, she had no idea they were going to make a fool out of her. She had no idea they were going to make everyone in the school laugh at her. She had no idea they were going to make her wish she was dead. When Ashley had stood with her clothes, hair and face covered in food, cheeks burning with embarrassment, eyes flooding with sadness and stomach boiling with anger, thinking that this was it, her life was over, it was going to be one miserable mess from now on, just like her outfit. But she was wrong. She couldn't believe Spinelli had started being nice to her, and was glad they'd made friends.

After lunch, Spinelli went to her locker to get her algebra textbook, and a little note fell out of it. She picked it up- it had TJ's handwriting on it. She smiled; usually when TJ put a note in her locker, he would ask her if she wanted to hang out after school or something. But this note said _Meet me outside Third Street Elementary. We need to talk. –TJ._

Spinelli sighed- she knew what this 'talk' was going to be about. She screwed up the piece of paper and threw it on the floor. She figured she'd just tell TJ that she never got the note, and he'd never find out.

Little did she know that someone had just seen her.

* * *

That night, Spinelli and Ashley took Sparky and Paris out for a walk in the park.

"What kind of name's Sparky for a dog?" Ashley asked, as Spinelli threw Sparky a stick with her left hand. She was amazed at her Spinelli could still do so many things using her left hand.

"We had absolutely no idea what to call him so we just thought we'd give him one of those classic dog names," Spinelli said, shrugging. "But it was either that or Rover, Fido, Rex, Spot… but what's the deal with your dog? I mean… Paris?"

Ashley laughed- she'd only just realised how stupid naming a dog Paris was. "Oh, all the Ashleys had dogs named after European capital cities," Ashley said, pulling a face. "You know, I've only just realised how stupid they were."

Spinelli nodded. "Well- I've always thought that, but hey, glad you finally realised that. How come you've stopped saying 'like' all the time?"

Ashley shrugged. "It was an Ashley thing. You drop it after spending time with normal people."

Spinelli laughed and her cell phone began to ring. Spinelli rolled her eyes. "This'll be Mom, asking me if my arm's OK, or Ruby, telling me she's coming back to school tomorrow, or she might have heard Kate's now a bitch I'm not talking to, excuse me a sec," Spinelli said, answering her phone without looking at the caller ID.

"Hey!" Spinelli said.

"Oh, hi, Spinelli," TJ said on the other end of the line. Spinelli froze- TJ sounded angry. "Where were you earlier?"

"What do you mean?" Spinelli asked.

"You know full damn well what I mean," TJ said, and Spinelli opened her mouth, but as if he could see her down the phone, TJ said, "don't lie to me, Ashley Spinelli. I know you got my note and I know you screwed it up and threw it away. Why? Because I saw you do it."

"But- that was a different note!" Spinelli lied, but TJ wasn't having any of it. "Tell me, Spinelli, am I really that easy to lie to?" His hurt, angry tone of voice made Spinelli's heart sink.

"But TJ-" Spinelli started, but she sighed. She couldn't think of an excuse for what she did, other than not wanting to meet with him. And then he would ask why.

"I get it," TJ said coldly. "I don't matter to you anymore. That's fine by me."

"Of course you're important to me, TJ!" Spinelli said, tears forming in her eyes. Dang, she was getting too emotional lately. But was TJ right? Had she really been treating him like dirt?

"You've got a funny way of showing it. You only visited me in hospital once, and the one time you did, you ran away from me when I asked you a really important question. And now I know why." The tears were running down TJ's cheeks, not just tears of sadness and heartbreak, tears of anger too. Suddenly all that anger just came flooding out. "BECAUSE YOU'RE A SELFISH, IMMATURE COWARD! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST RUN AWAY FROM EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. WELL, YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM THIS FOREVER, SPINELLI! SOONER OR LATER YOU'LL HAVE TO TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

"The truth? What about?" Spinelli asked timidly.

"DON'T LIE TO ME SPINELLI, YOU KNOW IT'S ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID TO ME BEFORE YOU BLACKED OUT! DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO JUST LET SOMETHING LIKE THIS GO?! WHEN MY BEST FRIEND TELLS ME SHE LOVES ME, I NEED TO KNOW IF THAT'S TRUE OR NOT, SPINELLI! I NEED TO KNOW WHERE I STAND! BUT I SUPPOSE THAT DOESN'T MATTER TO YOU, JUST LIKE I DON'T MATTER TO YOU ANYMORE. ALL THIS TIME YOU'VE BEEN PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS AND I'M GETTING SICK OF IT, SPINELLI! I'M GETTING SICK OF **YOU!**"

Spinelli's fist clenched. She was _not _having TJ or anyone speaking to her like that.

"_You're _sick of _me_?!" Spinelli said, anger bubbling up inside of her. "YOU'RE sick of ME when YOU'RE the one who's SHOUTING AT ME DOWN MY PHONE FOR NO REASON-"

"YOU THINK IT'S NO REASON?!" TJ yelled. "IT MIGHT NOT HAVE A REASON TO YOU, SPINELLI, BUT IT DOES TO ME! DO YOU ENJOY DOING THESE THINGS TO ME, SPINELLI? DO YOU ENJOY PLAYING WITH MY EMOTIONS? DO YOU ENJOY MAKING ME FEEL LIKE AN IDIOT?!"

Spinelli didn't know what to say; TJ hardly ever got like this, and if she was completely honest it scared her a little bit.

"WELL, COME ON, SPINELLI! I'M WAITING FOR AN ANSWER!" TJ demanded. "JUST LIKE I'M WAITING FOR AN ANSWER ABOUT WHAT YOU SAID BEFORE I BLACKED OUT!"

"TJ, why are you getting so stressed out over what I said?"

"BECAUSE IT _MATTERS _TO ME, OK? IT MIGHT NOT MATTER TO YOU, SPINELLI, BUT IT MATTERS TO **ME!**"

There was an awkward silence. Then TJ spoke again, but to Spinelli's surprise, his tone was quiet, and sort of pleading.

"Please, Spinelli." He said. "I need to know. I need to know if you really love me or… or if I remembered wrong."

Spinelli sighed. Now wasn't exactly the best time to confess her true feelings for TJ, in the middle of a phone conversation- well, a phone shouting match. She wasn't only scared of getting her heart broken; she was now also scared that if she told TJ and he didn't feel the same way, he'd just get even more mad and it would ruin their friendship. Then again, their friendship looked pretty doomed anyway; TJ was acting like a jerk.

But why did Spinelli still love him?

Spinelli chewed on her lip, wondering what to do. If she told the truth, TJ probably didn't feel the same way, and she'd end up with a broken heart. But she didn't know if she could bring herself to lie.

"You know what, I get the message, Spinelli." TJ said sourly. "I did remember wrong. You don't love me. I was crazy to think so in the first place. But let me just ask you one thing. If you never said that then WHY THE HELL DID YOU MAKE ME GO THROUGH ALL THIS? ALL THOSE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS WONDERING WHERE I STOOD WITH YOU? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO RUN AWAY FROM ME LIKE AN IMMATURE LITTLE KID WHENEVER I BROUGHT IT UP? YOU SEE SPINELLI, YOU THINK YOU'RE SO TOUGH BUT YOU'RE JUST A COWARD, A COWARD WHO RUNS AWAY FROM EVERYTHING! IF YOU WERE SO TOUGH, YOU WOULD HAVE HAD THE GUTS TO TELL ME TO MY FACE SO I DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL THIS! WHY, SPINELLI? WHY?"

Spinelli was at a loss for words; she couldn't remember feeling more guilty. He had a right to be angry; if it had been the other way round, she'd have wanted to know where she stood too. She hadn't thought of it like that before and now TJ had pointed that out she felt terrible.

"I know why you didn't tell me," TJ whispered. "Because you thought I'd get upset. Upset that I didn't love you. You really thought you'd break my heart, didn't you? Well newsflash, Spinelli. I don't give one about you. You will NEVER break my heart. And you'll never break anyone else's either, because you're so ugly! NO ONE WOULD **EVER **LOVE YOU, ASHLEY SPINELLI!!"

Spinelli froze. She couldn't believe TJ had just said no one would ever love her. All feelings of guilt towards TJ disappeared and were replaced by the empty feeling of her heart breaking and breaking into a thousand tiny pieces.

And no one broke her heart and got away with it.

"OH YEAH? WELL, I DON'T SEE THE GIRLS LINING UP FOR YOU EITHER!" Spinelli yelled. "WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TALKING TO ME LIKE THAT?! YOU ARE THE MOST ARROGANT GUY ALIVE, TJ DETWEILER, AND **I HATE YOU!!** AND YEAH, I WISH YOU _DID _DIE WHEN THAT GUY STABBED YOU!"

There was an awkward, empty silence. TJ stared at his cell phone; he couldn't believe Spinelli had just said she wished he was dead. He could feel his heart breaking and breaking into a thousand tiny pieces.

"And yeah, what you said earlier, about you being sick of me," Spinelli said, her voice shaking. "If you're so damn sick of me then why don't you just leave me alone?"

"Fine. I don't wanna look at your face again anyway. It'd make me spew," TJ said, snapping his cell phone shut.

Spinelli put her cell phone back in her pocket, the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Omigod, Spinelli!!" Ashley said, running over to her, holding Paris on a lead in her left hand and Sparky on a lead in her right hand. "What the hell happened?"

Spinelli shook her head. If she told Ashley what happened, that would involve telling her that she was in love with TJ and that she told TJ she loved him before he blacked out. And she didn't want anyone to know. _She _didn't even want to know anymore. She didn't want to think about him ever again, because thinking about him would hurt too much. And she couldn't let him know how worthless she felt now that he'd said no one would ever love her.

But Ashley didn't ask. Spinelli was surprised; she thought the Ashleys all craved a bit of hot, juicy gossip. But then again, Ashley A. wasn't in the Ashleys anymore.

As broken as Spinelli felt, she knew she'd have to put on a brave face. She was a tough girl; and particularly because TJ had said otherwise, she wanted to prove him wrong. She wanted to show the world she _was _tough, and that some stupid guy couldn't get to her.

TJ watched Spinelli walking down the street with Ashley A. from his bedroom window and filled with disgust. Spinelli didn't even look guilty or upset. She should have been guilty in TJ's opinion, after hurting him so much. _Just goes to show how heartless she is_, TJ thought. _I'm better off without her._

As TJ walked away from the window, he looked back. He saw how the moonlight illuminated every one of Spinelli's beautiful features. He was entranced by how beautiful her face was, it was like falling in love with her all over again.

_Am I better off without her? _TJ thought to himself, wondering if he'd just made the biggest mistake of his life.

He remembered his cruel words earlier: _I don't give one about you. You will NEVER break my heart. And you'll never break anyone else's either, because you're so ugly! NO ONE WOULD __**EVER **__LOVE YOU, ASHLEY SPINELLI!! _Well, every one of those words was a lie. TJ cared about Spinelli more than he cared about anything else. Spinelli had broken his heart, and it hurt like hell. Spinelli was not ugly, she was so beautiful that when she smiled, he felt that everything was right in the world…

And someone _did _love Ashley Spinelli. He did. With all his heart. His now broken heart.

** Things aren't going well for TJ and Spin are they? Please review! **


	15. Gonzo World

**A/N- Welcome to Chapter 15. I've never got as far as a Chapter 15 with my other stories, so this is the first time I've ever written a Chapter 15… ooh I'm excited!! :D Italics are flashbacks, normal text is normal story. **

**To tj/spin fan: WOW THAT'S LIKE THE BEST NEWS EVER!! Thanks for telling me, I didn't know before. I was REALLY annoyed with Disney when they stopped showing Recess because I hate all the new shows Disney are showing- none of them interest me at all. The only thing I like about modern Disney is High School Musical :D A few are on Youtube, but only about ten episodes. Disney should really make more episodes of it shouldn't they? So thanks for telling me, and thanks for reviewing, glad you like it! :D**

**Everyone else: (if you're a fanfic member I'll reply personally :D) thanks for your reviews, keep them coming!! 18 reviews already, woop! I know some of you out there have stories that get about 500 reviews or something, but 18 reviews is really a lot for me. Each and every one of them makes my day, so please carry on reviewing!!**

**Wow that was a long A/N :P Well, this is my first EVER Chapter 15, so I'm happy. :P :D Enjoy. Love Rach!! :D**

TJ and Spinelli avoided each other for weeks. Even in the middle of May, they still hadn't talked to each other. By which time, Spinelli had had the plaster taken off her arm and had earned enough money from working and chores to start driving lessons. Kate and Sam had taken TJ's side, and Ruby and Dave had taken Spinelli's side, even though none of them knew what the argument had been over. TJ had just told Kate and Sam that Spinelli said she wished he was dead, and Spinelli had just told Ashley, Ruby and Dave that TJ said she was so ugly no one would ever love her.

Ruby and Dave had actually given Ashley a chance, and now the three had gotten to know each other, they were really good friends. Ashley loved having friends that she could actually be herself around. With the Ashleys, it was always about who had the best hair and who had the nicest nails and who's dad was the richest. It was all about looking good, and not actually having fun. It was nice to know that Spinelli, Ruby and Dave didn't care what she wore or how her hair looked. It was the first time Ashley had ever had friends like that.

"Hey, guys, wanna go to Gonzo World this weekend?" Dave asked in English class. He sat at a desk next to Ruby, with Ashley and Spinelli sitting in front of them.

"Yeah, sounds great!" Ashley and Ruby said.

Spinelli sighed, remembering the last time she went to Gonzo World…

_It was the February of sixth grade. Mikey, Vince and Spinelli were twelve, and Gretchen, Gus and TJ were still eleven. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and the six were standing in front of Gonzo World water park._

"_I can't believe this is the last time we'll see each other," Gus said gloomily, he was moving to another state first thing the next morning. "I hate having to move around all the time. I was really happy at Third Street with you guys. It was the first school where I actually had friends. And now, I'll probably just be the new kid again. Why can't my dad just work at Floppy Burger?!" _

_Mikey comforted Gus as he burst into tears. The rest of the gang looked at each other, realising that Gus was right. They probably wouldn't see him again._

"_Don't worry, Gus. We'll keep in touch," TJ said, patting Gus's shoulder. "Now, come on. Worry about your new school when you get there. Right now, this is the last day we'll ever spend together as a gang of six, and we're at Gonzo World! So we might as well enjoy it while we can."_

"_Yeah!" The other five exclaimed, even Gus, who looked a lot happier. Spinelli grinned. Good old TJ, making everything better all the time._

_They went inside and paid for their tickets. TJ, Gus, Vince and Mikey headed towards the guys' locker room, whilst Spinelli and Gretchen went and got changed in the girls' locker room._

_They all met up at the poolside and Vince said, "Let's have a race! Last one who swims ten lengths of the pool is a loser!" It was typical of Vince to encourage the gang to be sporty and competitive. Gus sighed, he would miss that about him._

"And _has to pay for the corn dogs!" Spinelli said, jumping in the water._

"_You're on!" Vince said, even though he knew it would be Gretchen or Mikey, the least athletic of the gang. But they wouldn't mind paying for the corn dogs._

_Vince was in the lead, with TJ coming second, Spinelli coming a close third, Gus fourth, Gretchen fifth and with Mikey at the rear. Vince had just started his ninth length when… _

_TJ took in Spinelli's body for the first time. She was wearing a red swimming costume that hugged each one of her newly formed curves. For a twelve-year-old, she'd developed fast. TJ stared at her, transfixed. It was the first time he'd ever noticed her figure, and he was entranced, although he didn't know why…_

"_You lost, Teej!" Spinelli said, laughing. TJ shook his head, back in the real world, where he was in a swimming pool, his five best friends in a circle around him, splashing him and squealing with laughter._

"_Alright, alright, I lost, I'll buy you guys corn dogs, now STOP SPLASHING ME!!" TJ grinned, splashing them all back._

_Gretchen had noticed the way that TJ was looking at Spinelli, as had Mikey, but before either could say anything, TJ said, "C'mon- let's go check out the water slides!"_

_The gang spent nearly two hours in the actual pool, then got out, got dried and changed, and sat around a table in the café part. TJ bought everyone corn dogs, and they all got sodas out of their own money._

"_A toast," TJ said, raising his cup of soda. "To us. To all the good times we've had, and all the good times that are yet to come, even if we're apart. And to us being friends for life."_

"_To us!" The rest of the gang said, raising their cups and drinking. Mikey's went down the wrong way and soda shot out of his nostrils, making everyone crack up laughing…_

"Good afternoon, class. Turn your textbooks to page seventy-nine," their teacher, Mr. Goode, said, walking in the classroom and disturbing Spinelli's daydreaming.

It was Sunday afternoon, and Ashley, Spinelli, Ruby and Dave were at Gonzo World. Ashley in a pink bikini, Spinelli in a red tankini, Ruby in a lilac bikini, Dave in black swim shorts.

A few guys checked out the three girls; however, anyone who checked out Ruby got a death glare from Dave.

After going down the waterslides a few times, Spinelli remembered something when they were queuing up again. "Hey, let's go down to the main pool! They're turning the wave machine on in two minutes!"

The four left the queue and headed to the main pool- the wave machine was awesome. It was so powerful it swept people all over the pool. As Spinelli was the smallest, it got her first. She laughed as the wave machine swept her out, and landed in the worst place possible- on the knee of a guy sitting on the steps leading into the pool.

Spinelli laughed. "Oh my God, I am so sorry…" Her voice trailed off when she looked at the guy and saw that he was TJ. She bit her lip as she felt herself going bright red.

"Uh… it's OK, I guess." TJ said, managing a weak smile. "You know how powerful that wave machine can be."

"Uh… yeah." Spinelli said, looking awkwardly at the water. TJ looked at Spinelli, remembering that time in sixth grade when he'd first discovered how attracted to her body he was. Spinelli's red tankini showed off her perfectly defined body and TJ thought to himself, _God, she's hot. I have to make her mine… or at least for today make her stop hating me._

Spinelli noticed TJ; he was wearing blue swim shorts and every part of his body was well toned and muscular. Spinelli's jaw dropped open as she thought to herself, _God, he's hot. I have to make him mine… or at least for today make him stop hating me._

Then Spinelli realised she was still sitting on TJ's knee, and she leapt apart suddenly. TJ smirked.

"Who you here with?" TJ asked.

"Ashley, Ruby and Dave." Spinelli said, not meeting TJ's eyes. She felt too awkward to look him in the eyes. TJ too was avoiding Spinelli's gaze. He nodded awkwardly. "Yeah. I'm here with Sam and Kate… but they're driving me insane."

He pointed to the little Jacuzzi, where Kate and Sam were sitting, kissing passionately. Spinelli smirked. "Yeah… Ruby and Dave are like that sometimes. Lucky for me I've got Ashley."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that. You used to hate her."

"Yeah. She's almost like a sister to me now, though. It's amazing how hate can turn to love."

"Yeah… and how love can turn to hate."

Spinelli sighed. TJ was right, apart from one tiny little detail… all this time she'd hated TJ, she'd never for one second stopped loving him.

"I'd better get going," Spinelli said, walking down the steps. TJ stared after her; he'd let her go once, he couldn't make that mistake again. It was time to swallow his pride.

"Spinelli," TJ said, and she turned around, wondering if he was going to bite her head off again.

What he actually said surprised her. "Please forgive me," he said, gently and desperately. "I'm… really sorry. I was a total idiot. And some of that stuff I said was just out of order."

"No… the stuff you said was true," Spinelli said, biting her lip. "About me being immature and selfish and stupid and ugly…"

"Shut up Spinelli, you aren't any of those things," TJ said softly, meaning every word. "You're mature and caring and intelligent and…" he was going to say 'beautiful', but Spinelli cut him off with saying, "Everything I said was a lie. I don't wish you were dead at all. And I don't think you're arrogant or anything. Can we just… start over?"

"Course we can," TJ said. "We can forget all this junk ever happened… sounds good to me."

Spinelli and TJ hugged, and Spinelli knew she wanted to hold TJ in her arms forever, because she felt that if she ever let him go, she would lose him again.

Somewhere else, two girls were sitting in a Jacuzzi, one in a green bikini and one in a blue bikini, sipping cocktails and gossiping about pretty much everyone they knew.

"Did you, like, hear about Jennifer?" Ashley T. said.

"You mean the girl from freshman year?" Ashley Q. said, and Ashley T. nodded.

"Like, has she had another nose job?" Ashley Q. asked taking another sip of her drink.

"Like, no! Her dad's, like, sending her to boarding school!"

"Like, about time, too! Didn't she, like, get pregnant last year?"

"No, it was, like, worse than that. It was _seventh _grade."

"Like, no way!"

Ashley T. nodded. "She, like, had an abortion though."

"Hasn't she got a sister in junior year?" Ashley Q. asked, and Ashley T. nodded. "Johnny V, like, _totally _likes her. I've seen him checking her out."

"Like, no wonder if he's with Ashley B!" Ashley Q. exclaimed.

"Like, I _know_! She is, like, so plastic. She looks like a Barbie doll."

"And she isn't even _that _pretty when you, like, take a second look at her."

"I know! She only, like, gets all those modelling contracts coz her dad's rich," Ashley T. said, seemingly forgetting that that was the reason her and Ashley Q. got _their _modelling contracts too.

"And I hate how she, like, bosses us about all the time, like she's better than us," Ashley Q. said, seemingly forgetting that if she or Ashley T. was leader of the Ashleys, _they'd _boss the others about too.

"I know! And we, like, thought Ashley A. was bad."

"Speaking of Ashley A, weren't our ideas about how to humiliate her, like, _totally _better than hers?"

"Like, I know! Having her show up in costume to a regular party or telling people she was pregnant would have been, like, _so _much more fun."

"And the other day when we were, like, out shopping, she told me that I couldn't buy this totally gorgeous Gucci bag because it was yellow and that's apparently her colour!"

"Like, as if! I can't believe she thinks that she's, like, the only person who can wear yellow. It's like she thinks the world would stop spinning for her if she wanted it to!"

"Like, Ashley T…" Ashley Q. said, taking a deep breath. She'd been asking herself this question for weeks, and now it was finally going to come out. "…lately I've been wondering… is it Ashley B. I'm sick of, or is it… just being an Ashley?"

Ashley Q. bit her lip, wondering what Ashley T. would say. At first she looked shell shocked, but then she sighed, a sigh of relief. "Like, I'm so totally glad you feel the same way! Because to be honest, I, like, don't really know either."

"But if it's being Ashleys we're sick of, then, like, what should we do about it?" Ashley Q. said.

"I, like, totally don't know, Ashley Q." Ashley T. said. "After all, the only way anyone can leave the Ashleys is if they're, like, unanimously voted out by all the other Ashleys. And Ashley B. won't just, like, kick us out for no reason, because then she'll, like, be on her own."

"Unless…" Ashley Q. said, and Ashley T. could tell from the way her green eyes were glinting that she'd had a plan. "We make Ashley B. want to throw us out!"

"Like, how do we do that, though?" Ashley T. asked, and together the two fed up Ashleys came up with a plan…

**OK, a few things: not my best chapter, I know that. And I HAD to get TJ and Spin back together!! (Well, as friends anyway...) Hopefully things will get better for them from now on...**


	16. Spinelli Cottage

**This chapter has quite a slow start, but I think the second part of it is better. I'm really looking forward to writing about the Spinellis' summer!!**

"Um, Bob, Flo, can we talk?" Ashley asked one May night.

"Sure, Ashley, what's up?" Bob asked, as Ashley sat down.

"Well… it's my birthday in July, and I was just… wondering what sort of party I could have."

"What do you have in mind, poppet?" Flo asked.

"Well… I was thinking… we could hire out a club, I could arrive in a horse and carriage, we could get someone really cool to sing, like Justin Timberlake…"

"Uh, Ashley, that's a nice idea, but don't you think it would cost a million bucks or two?" Bob said, and Ashley's heart sank. This was her sixteenth birthday they were talking about. She'd only turn sixteen once. She wanted it to be special. Didn't every girl want her sixteenth birthday to be special?

"I know, but… I want it to be special," Ashley said, sighing. Her dreams of a memorable sixteenth birthday party were in ruins.

"You don't need money to make your party special, sweetheart!" Flo said, smiling. "When it was Spinelli's in January, we hardly spent any money. She just camped out in the back yard with a few friends. She had a really good night."

"I don't think I'm a camping kinda person," Ashley said. Even though she and Spinelli were friends, they were still completely different. Spinelli still liked wrestling, rock music and skateboarding, whilst Ashley preferred soaps, hip hop and shopping. Spinelli loved the outdoors, but Ashley was really more of an indoor kinda gal.

"Well, if your birthday's in July, then we'll be on vacation anyway," Flo said, and Ashley's eyes lit up. She thought of all the cool places in the world she'd been to and loved, and the possibility of spending her birthday in one of those places: Japan, Hawaii, France, Egypt, Spain, India, England, Italy…

"Where are we going?" Ashley asked.

"We own a cottage in the country. We normally stay there over Christmas but we've decided it would be nice to stay over summer this year too," Flo said, and Ashley's heart sank again. It was just some boring cottage in the middle of nowhere. Not exactly the luxurious six-star hotel she'd had in mind.

"It's right next to the beach," Bob said, smiling. "We could have a barbeque on the beach or something."

Ashley smiled and tried not to look disappointed. After all, Bob and Flo weren't exactly rich. She felt a bit guilty about how ungrateful she was being- after all, they had given her a home, and they were trying.

"I'm going to bed," Ashley announced, heading upstairs and trying to fight back the tears.

She looked at herself in the mirror and realised how much everything she'd asked for must have cost, and even though Bob and Flo were trying, she still wasn't happy. It only meant one thing…

"I'm a spoilt brat," Ashley whispered, realising for the first time in nearly sixteen years.

"Like, here it is!" Ashley T. said, getting out a purple notebook from a shelf in her closet.

"The Ashley Book!" Ashley Q. "Perfect! This has, like, every single Ashley rule there is in here!"

"So all we have to do is, like, break as many rules as we can!"

"And Ashley B. will kick us out for sure!"

"SCANDALOUS!!"

The two girls looked at each other in confusion.

"Um… if we wanna get kicked _out _of the Ashleys then we really ought to stop doing that," Ashley T. said timidly.

Ashley Q. nodded. "Agreed."

"Hey! I've, like, just remembered something!" Ashley T. said. "This Tuesday's Purple Day!"

"Omigod, like, yeah!" Ashley Q. grinned. "We can, like, just forget to wear purple!"

"SCANDALOUS!!" The two said again, and then glanced at each other. "Man, that's gonna be hard to grow out of," Ashley Q. said, and Ashley T. nodded.

It was Purple Day. The most important day of the Ashley calendar. Because Purple Day was the day where the Ashleys celebrated the day they first met and formed their clique. It was like the anniversary of the Ashleys.

Or so Ashley T. and Ashley Q. thought.

They both showed up to school, wearing clothes that weren't purple. Ashley T. was wearing green, as usual, and Ashley Q. was wearing blue like she normally did.

"Omigod, Ashley B. forgot Purple Day too!!" Ashley T. said, and sure enough, Ashley B. was wearing a sundress- which was bright yellow.

"Ashley B, you've, like, totally forgotten Purple Day!" Ashley T. said, and Ashley B. laughed.

"Like I'd forget Purple Day! Purple Day's _next _week, silly!" she said, as Ashley Q. gave Ashley T. a furious look.

The bell rang. "Like, come on, Ashleys, let's get to class," Ashley B. said, and the three Ashleys walked to homeroom.

Ashley T. and Ashley Q. tried to get kicked out of the Ashleys for the next two weeks, but failed. Ashley B. had failed to notice their feeble attempts- not saying 'like', not saying 'scandalous', wearing the same top twice in the same week. They knew their problem was that they weren't thinking big enough, but didn't know how big they needed to be.

"Maybe we should just wait till next year," Ashley T. said to Ashley Q. miserably on the morning of the last day of school.

Of course, everyone counted down the seconds till the bell rang, and when the bell _did _ring, everyone went crazy. Papers were thrown everywhere. People jumped up onto desks and hugged their friends, singing and screaming, happy and free.

"This is my favourite day of the year," Spinelli said, grinning, as she and her friends headed out of school.

"Twelve weeks of freedom," Ashley grinned, even though she couldn't have the birthday party she'd wanted, surely this summer would be great.

"Where you guys off to on vacation?" Ruby asked. "I'm going to Florida."

"France," Kate said- Spinelli and Ashley still weren't talking to her after everything that had happened, but she was still hanging around with them, as Ruby, Sam, Dave and TJ still were.

"China," Sam and Dave said together.

"And _we_ are off to good old Spinelli cottage!" TJ said, grinning. He and Spinelli's families had a tradition; they took it in turns to go on vacation with each other's families, and this year, it was TJ's turn to go on vacation with Spinelli's family- to Spinelli cottage for the first three weeks in July.

The first few weeks of summer vacation were relaxed and uneventful. Spinelli carried on with her driving lessons, both girls worked for a few hours each afternoon, they watched loads of TV and Spinelli had tried to teach Ashley how to skateboard. After about ten minutes, they'd both given up.

The week before the vacation was full of drastic packing. Ashley had packed virtually everything she owned, and the three suitcases she'd filled wouldn't close at all.

"No, Ashley," Flo said, shaking her head. "You can't take every single thing you own. You have to limit yourself the things you really need."

Flo helped Ashley pack so that she had just one suitcase that actually closed. Ashley noticed that all three Spinellis had been a lot happier that week- singing to themselves as they wandered around the house, smiling pretty much all the time and being overall more laid back about everything.

The morning they were due to set off, Ashley was woken up at four thirty in the morning- but she didn't really mind that much. She was used to getting up early. She always got up early on schooldays to give her plenty of time to get ready, and she'd gotten so used to that that even in summer she woke up early.

Spinelli, however, was not a morning person. She yawned and snapped at everyone, although she did seem to cheer up a little when TJ got into the car. They set off, one of Bob and Flo's ancient CDs playing. Bob and Flo sang along, out of tune and out of key, but all that mattered was that they were happy. Ashley didn't sing along, even though she had quite a good voice- she never sang in front of people.

Ashley turned on her pink iPod nano and smiled at Spinelli and TJ. Spinelli had fallen asleep with her head resting on TJ's shoulder, and TJ, half asleep himself, was gently stroking Spinelli's black hair and smiling at her. Anyone could tell from the way he was looking at her that he adored her.

They stopped a couple of times to eat and use a bathroom, and about six hours after setting off, they arrived at the cottage. Spinelli Cottage (which wasn't it's real name, it was just what the Spinellis liked to call it), was probably the most beautiful building Ashley had ever seen in her life, even if it was small. It was a single storey building, white with a thatched roof, and it had a huge, colourful garden, and a beautiful view from each window. There were no other cottages or houses around, in fact, the only nearby thing was the beach, which was extremely close to the cottage. Ashley grinned- maybe she'd like staying here more than she'd first thought.

"OK, Spinelli and Ashley, you're gonna share this year, and TJ, you get the other room all to yourself," Flo said.

"C'mon, Ash. I'll show you our room," Spinelli said, grabbing her luggage from the car boot and taking it inside. Ashley followed Spinelli through the cosy looking living room and the beautiful old fashioned kitchen. Ashley liked how old fashioned it was, and how cosy looking it was- but part of that was because of the personal touches the Spinellis had made. The kitchen had paintings up on the walls- obviously painted by Spinelli when she was little. The lounge had a growth chart stuck to the wall, covered in purple, red, blue and green marks.

"C'mon, Pookie, let's get you measured," Bob said to Spinelli, who rolled her eyes.

"Dad!" Spinelli protested, but all the same, she made her way over to the growth chart and stood against it.

"We measure our children every time we come here," Flo said. "Each one has their own colour. We even measure TJ when he comes. It's like a Spinelli tradition."

Ashley noticed something at the top of the chart. It was a key. It said: _Purple Ashley_, but Spinelli had crossed that out and written _SPINELLI!! _in wobbly letters. Ashley smiled- purple being Spinelli's colour made sense, the purple marks weren't as high up on the paper as the others.

Ashley noticed that the red marks were TJ's, and the blue and green ones belongedto people she didn't know. The blue ones belonged to someone called Joey, and the green ones belonged to someone called Vito. _They must be Spinelli's brothers,_ Ashley thought. _Spinelli never mentions them._

Bob took Spinelli and TJ's heights and recorded them on the chart. "Gosh, TJ, you sure have grown a lot since last time. Still, I guess that _was _two years ago. And Spin, you've hardly grown since Christmas!"

"Ugh. Don't remind me," Spinelli, who was bitter about being small, said sourly. She seemed to have stopped growing when she was about fourteen.

"Don't worry, Spin. Remember in fourth grade when Gretchen predicted all our heights? If she was right, you'll still grow another three inches." TJ said, and Ashley smiled. She hadn't known TJ as a friend for that long, but it was amazing how good he was at calming people down.

"Yeah. It also said Mikey would be fifty feet," Spinelli said, even though that _was _because of the compass he was wearing around his neck. "C'mon, Ashley, I was gonna show you my room."

"Wait!" Flo said. "We still need to take Ashley's height! Ashley, what's your favourite colour?"

"Pink," Ashley said, feeling herself blush. If they wanted to add her to the growth chart, then it must mean they considered her part of the family now. Even though in Ashley's opinion it was pointless to add her now because she'd stop growing soon anyway, she was still touched.

They took Ashley's height and then Spinelli showed Ashley to their room. It was like a little girl's room- the walls were yellow and there were pictures of teddy bears in frames. It was totally different to Spinelli's room at home.

The twin beds had yellow covers with pictures of teddy bears on them. Spinelli threw her bag onto the one near the door. "I always sleep there," Spinelli said. "To prove to my brothers that I wasn't scared of anything."

Ashley started to unpack her stuff. They spent most of the day unpacking and went to bed early because they were tired from getting up at half four.

Ashley woke up early- the clock in her and Spinelli's room said it was only six thirty. Ashley felt wide awake though. She swung her legs out of bed and, not wanting to wake Spinelli, or Bob or Flo or TJ, crept out of the room and into the living room to watch a bit of TV.

It was then she got the shock of her life.

Someone was in the kitchen…

**Yup, it's a cliffie :P There hasn't really been a dramatic one in a while, so yeah ;)**

**Review... go on... you know you want to!! :D**


	17. Ashley's Birthday

**Welcome to a VERY eventful chapter… all I'm gonna say.**

Ashley stood rooted to the spot for a moment, panicking, wondering what to do. The figure looked male but she didn't want to make too much of a fuss in case it was Bob or TJ. But what if it _wasn't _Bob or TJ? What if Spinelli Cottage was being robbed? What if it was that guy from the toy store again?

The figure turned around, and he had a knife in his hand. Ashley opened her mouth to scream, but the guy put a finger to his lips.

"Don't make any noise," He whispered, and Ashley was surprised at how soft and gentle his voice was. But even murderers could have soft voices. Ashley was still petrified.

The man noticed how Ashley was staring at the knife in his hand with terrified eyes, and he laughed. "Relax, kiddo. I'm just making myself some toast."

At that moment, some toast popped out of the toaster. He grinned as he went to get it out of the toaster, and Ashley smiled, relieved. Something about the grin made her feel safe, and warm inside. _You're crazy, Ashley, _she thought. _You don't even know this guy. He could be a murderer. Don't trust him._

The man stuck the knife in the butter and spread it over the toast. "Want a slice?" he asked Ashley, who murmured, "Yes please," and took it from him. Ashley could see him better, now; he looked young, and he had floppy, messy, black hair that almost reached his shoulders, deep brown eyes and a well toned body.

The guy was grinning. "You should have seen your face a minute ago. You looked petrified. You probably thought I was gonna murder you or something."

"Well, me and two of my friends nearly _did _get murdered this year. You can never be too careful," Ashley said, pouting.

The guy laughed. "Don't worry. Perfectly safe."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ashley asked, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Got here late last night, thought I'd surprise you. Figured you'd all be up. But you were all in bed, and I didn't wanna wake any of you up… figured it'd wait till morning. So I slept on the sofa. And I got up early this morning- I can never sleep in- so thought I'd make myself some toast. Which brings us to right now," the guy said, smiling.

Ashley swallowed the piece of toast she was eating. "Who are you anyway?"

The guy grinned. "My name's-"

"Joey?!" Flo's voice said. Ashley and the guy turned around to see Flo, standing with her pink quilted dressing gown on.

Flo smiled. "Joey!! It's you!! Oh, sweetheart!!"

Flo ran over to the guy and gave him a huge kiss. Luckily for him, she hadn't put any lipstick on yet, so he didn't have a red lip mark on his face.

As Joey tried to wriggle away from Flo's hug, Bob, Spinelli and TJ appeared, hearing the commotion and wondering what was going on. Joey greeted Bob with a hug, Spinelli with a headlock and TJ with a high-five. Ashley hung back in the background, feeling a little left out.

"That's Joey," Spinelli said to Ashley, looking happier than she'd seen her in ages. "He's my brother. He's nineteen."

"I thought you were spending the summer at your apartment?" Bob asked, and Joey grinned. "Thought I'd surprise you," he said.

"You and my sister together yet?" Joey asked TJ, who rolled his eyes. "How many times do I have to tell people we're just friends?!" TJ said in despair, as Spinelli grabbed a sofa cushion and whacked Joey with it. He put his hands on his hips in mock anger.

"Temper, temper," Joey said, as Spinelli repeatedly whacked him with the sofa cushion, laughing. Joey threw up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I give in. You win, little sister. I won't tease you about TJ… for now."

Spinelli got ready to swing the sofa cushion again, but TJ grabbed it from her and said, "Now now, Spin, you don't wanna kill him."

Spinelli looked at TJ. "What if I do?" she said innocently, and TJ and Joey laughed.

"No one is going to kill anyone until I've made us all some coffee," Flo said, heading towards the kitchen.

Joey smiled at Ashley. "Hey, uh, I never caught your name," he said, looking deep into her eyes.

"It's Ashley," Ashley said, and Joey smiled, making Ashley weak at the knees. They looked into each others' eyes for a moment…

"You blinked," Joey said, laughing. "I win."

Ashley smiled sadly, thinking Joey was gazing into her eyes like lovers did- but he only wanted a staring contest. Why was she so disappointed?

Flo brought everyone steaming hot mugs of coffee and placed them on the coffee table. Everyone was sitting on the sofas, sipping coffee contentedly.

"Sorry TJ, but it looks like you'll be sharing your room," Bob said, and TJ shrugged and grinned. "I don't mind."

"Joey-" Flo began, but Joey, knowing what was coming, said, "Mom, I stopped growing last year, you do _not _need to measure me for that growth thingy!"

"Hey, how about we go on the beach?" Spinelli said.

"I dunno, I'm tired," Bob said, yawning.

"I'm sorry," Joey said guiltily.

"You kids go," Flo said, smiling.

"Mom, I'm nineteen!" Joey said, at exactly the same time as Spinelli said, "Mom, I'm sixteen!" "We're not kids anymore!" They finished.

"JINX!" Joey yelled like a kid, reminding Ashley of that time in fourth grade when her and the other Ashleys jinxed Gus Griswald, who got into trouble with just about everyone for not talking. _I wonder what happened to him? _Ashley thought- all she knew was that he'd been relocated in sixth grade.

Spinelli pouted and walked over to the whiteboard on the kitchen wall. She grabbed a whiteboard marker and wrote, _Grow up, Joey._

"How nice it is to have a flattering kid sister like you," Joey said, smirking. He winked at Ashley, who's stomach did a flip-flop.

TJ headed to his room, Joey went to Bob and Flo's room, Spinelli went in the girls' bedroom and Ashley went in the bathroom to get ready to go to the beach. Ashley looked at herself in the mirror. She looked awful. Her hair was a mess and she was wearing no makeup. Joey would never like her. But why did she want Joey to like her so much?

It only took the four a minute to walk down to the beach. The beach was deserted- it was almost like no one knew it was there apart from them. Maybe no one _did _know it was there.

Spinelli and TJ had run off to the sea, splashing each other. Ashley stood, looking out at the sea, taking it all in. It was…

"Beautiful," said a soft voice in her ear. She turned around to see Joey. "This place. It's beautiful."

"Yeah," Ashley replied, looking out at the sparkling blue waves, winking in the golden sunlight, and the girl and boy splashing in the waves, eyes shining with happiness. Ashley grinned; they were in love. Whether they knew it or not, they were in love.

"Some people belong together," Joey said, sitting down on the sand.

Ashley sat down next to him, smiling at Spinelli and TJ. "Yeah. I wonder when Spin and TJ are gonna admit they're in love?"

Joey smiled. "Yeah… I dunno. I mean, I've known TJ for years, and I think he'll be better for her than any other guy, but… I dunno. It's weird, when your little sister's in love. And if he breaks her heart then I'm breaking every bone in his body."

Ashley laughed, wondering if she'd have been the same if Tyler and Brittany had lived long enough to have their hearts broken. She sighed sadly.

"I think I know you from somewhere…" Joey asked, breaking the silence. "Did you go to Third Street?"

Ashley nodded, and Joey clicked his fingers. "I knew it! You were in third grade when I was in sixth. You were one of the Ashleys. God, you girls annoyed me."

Ashley laughed. "Don't worry, my days as an Ashley are over."

"Good. Hey, why are you here anyway?"

Ashley told him everything about the fire and her family, and by the end of it, there were tears running down her cheeks. Even Joey was nearly crying as he held Ashley, this beautiful girl he'd only known for a few hours, in his arms. Wondering what he could say to her to make it better.

"So, you see, the inquest said that it was arson, but they still haven't caught the person who did it, they've completely given up," Ashley sobbed. "It's like they don't care. It's like they're not bothered that all my family are dead."

"I- I'm really sorry, Ashley," Joey said, and Ashley looked up at him. Normally she'd have said that she didn't want his sympathy. After all, she didn't even know him. But there was something different about Joey.

Flo called them from the cottage. "Lunch is ready, guys!! Come get it!!"

"So what do you think of Spinelli cottage?" Joey asked, as he and Ashley walked up the path leading them to their lunch.

"Oh, I love it," Ashley said, smiling. Joey smiled too; he had only known this girl a few hours, yet she was already like a sister to him… maybe even something more than that.

* * *

Their first week at the cottage was great. Spinelli, TJ, Ashley and Joey went out onto the beach every day. They even went on when it rained.

They would have piggyback wars- Spinelli and TJ versus. Ashley and Joey. Spinelli would get on TJ's back, and Ashley would get on Joey's back, and the boys would run around while the girls tried to knock each other down. Spinelli and TJ often won, but Ashley didn't mind- the game itself was awesome.

Then there was the sea. Joey, Spinelli and TJ could all surf, and they spent hours every day trying to teach Ashley. She was slowly getting used to it; but she would never be as good as Joey, Spinelli and TJ. Again, she didn't mind.

Once, when Ashley and Spinelli were just sunbathing on the beach, the boys snuck up on them with buckets of cold water in their hands. They poured the water all over the unsuspecting girls, who screamed as loudly as they could, and they had a huge water fight for about four hours.

Ashley loved Spinelli cottage, because she knew that it was a magical place where so many happy memories had taken place. At home, Spinelli argued with her parents a lot, but there was no arguing at Spinelli cottage- all six of them got on like a house on fire. They spent more time together as a family; they would take it in turns to choose DVDs, Flo and Ashley liked romantic comedies, TJ and Bob liked action films and Joey and Spinelli loved horror and gore. They played games too- card games, Monopoly and dominoes- things Ashley used to think were boring but loved playing with the Spinellis.

On the eighth day of their stay, it was Ashley's birthday. She'd woken up early-every morning Ashley and Joey woke up a few hours before the others and just went into the living room, watching TV, making breakfast and just enjoying each others' company. Once they even went down to the beach, just the two of them.

Ashley opened the door of her room, which lead into the living room, expecting to see Joey already there. He was- but so were Bob, Flo, Spinelli and TJ.

"_Happy birthday to you,_

_Happy birthday to you,_

_Happy birthday dear Ashley,_

_Happy birthday to you!!_"

Ashley smiled- the living room had been decorated with presents, balloons and a huge banner that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!! in huge letters. The Spinellis and TJ were wearing party hats, and Bob had another one in his hand, which he gave to Ashley. Giggling, she put it on her head. "Thanks, guys!"

Bob and Flo had got her a pink laptop, and they gave her some money that was going to go towards driving lessons. Spinelli had got her some gorgeous pink high heeled shoes that weren't designer but must have been quite expensive, and a framed drawing she'd done of the six of them standing outside the cottage. Even TJ had got her a box of chocolates. Joey hadn't got her anything, but he'd only known her a week, so she didn't blame him.

"Omigod, thankyou!" Ashley squealed, hugging Bob, Flo, Spinelli, TJ and even Joey. Joey's hug had been quicker than the others', and she had come out of it blushing.

They had a nice, lazy day, eating the chocolates TJ had got Ashley for her birthday and watching movies- Ashley got to choose the DVDs so they watched _10 Things I Hate About You _and _Mean Girls_. It was only when she watched it that she realised how much the Plastics were like the Ashleys. But the Ashleys were ancient history now- at least, for her they were. She had her new friends now. She and Spinelli were best friends, and she'd gotten close to TJ, Ruby, Sam, Dave and Joey… Joey. Why did she feel all warm inside when she thought about Joey?

At around four in the afternoon, they showered and got dressed- and as Ashley came out of the shower, she saw something hanging up outside the closet in her room. It was a beautiful black dress that she'd never seen before- and there was a note stuck to the closet above it. It said: _Hello Ashley. Did you really think I'd forgotten you? I have a feeling this dress would look great on you. I hate to be the one to tell you, but take it from me, being 16 sucks, so good luck and enjoy tonight. Love J x_

Ashley smiled- the dress was beautiful. She couldn't believe she thought Joey had actually forgotten her birthday.

"You like it?" A voice said behind her. Ashley jumped and turned around to see Joey standing behind her, grinning. Ashley almost let go of the wet towel that was covering her body in shock.

"Joey, you have to go! I'm indecent!" Ashley said, panicking. What if she dropped the towel and Joey saw her naked?

Joey's grin got wider. "Perhaps you should shut your bedroom door then. But you didn't answer my question… do you like it?"

Ashley smiled, and Joey loved the way the smile made her blue eyes light up. "Joey, I love it. Thank you."

Joey grinned. "I'll leave you to get dressed, then."

Ashley got changed into the black dress, the pink shoes Spinelli had got her and a silver necklace that had an A for Ashley on it. She put her blonde hair into an updo and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. Even though she was only going to a barbeque on the beach, she wanted to look her best. Because Joey was going to be there.

Ashley was surprised by Spinelli's outfit, too- her dress was a bit like hers, but red, more tight and a little bit longer. She had curled her black hair and it looked beautiful. Ashley wondered why Spinelli didn't dress femininely more often.

TJ and Joey were already on the beach, helping Bob with the barbeque. When Spinelli and Ashley walked out, their jaws dropped. TJ couldn't stop staring at Spinelli, and Joey couldn't stop staring at Ashley.

They sat down on picnic rugs and started to eat the barbeque food, which was delicious. They sang songs and told stories and enjoyed being alive. Ashley smiled as she imagined what her planned sixteenth party would have been like, but she knew now this was way better than what she'd hoped for. She now knew the true meaning of happiness.

And now, Bob, Flo, Ashley and Joey were putting the barbeque away, and Spinelli and TJ had gone for a walk down the beach.

"You… uh… you look beautiful tonight, by the way," TJ mumbled, going bright red. It had taken him ages to pluck up the courage to tell Spinelli that. "Not that you don't look beautiful all the time, though, I was just…"

Spinelli smiled, blushing a little herself. "Uh… thanks. You don't look so bad yourself." _Understatement of the century! He's so hot._

Uh-oh… Spinelli could feel something rising up inside of her. 'Word vomit' as they called it on _Mean Girls_… and it was out before she could stop herself from saying it…

"TJ I think I'm in love with you."

TJ's eyes widened with shock. Spinelli bit her lip- she'd blown it now. She knew that TJ thought of her as nothing more than a friend, and that he would never have feelings for her. And now their friendship would be ruined and Spinelli's heart was about to be broken.

TJ, however, was over the moon. Had Spinelli just said what he thought she'd said? Did she really feel the same way?

He opened his mouth to tell her that he felt the same way, but Spinelli, refusing to look him in the eyes, said sadly, "Don't tell me, Teej. I don't wanna know." And she ran away, as fast as she could… she could hear TJ's footsteps, chasing after her, but she really didn't want him to say anything, she didn't want to get her heart broken… but she was wearing high heels, and she fell in the sand, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Because she fell, TJ caught up to her. He knelt down beside her, and she tried to get up and run away again, but TJ grabbed her wrist so she couldn't. "Don't run away from me, Spinelli," he whispered gently.

"Why not? You're just gonna break my heart, aren't you?" Spinelli said, and TJ's brown eyes flashed with hurt.

"I would never break your heart," TJ whispered.

Spinelli struggled from TJ's grip. "But you're doing it RIGHT NOW! Just like you do it EVERY SINGLE DAY! Because you don't see me as anything more than a-" Spinelli was cut off by TJ kissing her. Surprised, Spinelli responded to the kiss with just as much enthusiasm as TJ.

Spinelli pulled away, smiling. "-friend," she finished.

"Well you're wrong, Ashley Spinelli, because I love you. I've been in love with you ever since we kissed in fourth grade. And every day I fall in love with you a little bit more, and one day when we're older I want to make you my wife. But we'd better start somewhere… Spin, will you be my girlfriend?"

Spinelli kissed TJ again, and pulled away, smirking. "Does that answer your question?" She asked, and TJ grinned.

What Spinelli and TJ didn't know was that Ashley and Joey were watching them from further up the beach. Bob and Flo had gone inside the cottage, leaving them alone.

Ashley smiled. "Maybe the Ashleys aren't as stupid as we think," she said to Joey. Joey looked at Ashley, confused. Ashley laughed. "We had this book… the Ashley Book," she explained. "It had all our rules and everything in it… it was quite dumb really. But there was this Predictions page, that we wrote in sixth grade, and… it predicted Spinelli and TJ would get together in the summer after sophomore year."

Joey smiled. "I knew it had to happen sooner or later."

And as if an invisible magnetic force was pulling them together, Ashley and Joey got closer and closer and closer, their faces an inch apart and still getting closer…

Until Bob shouted, "JOEY!! COME HERE NOW!!"

Joey and Ashley leapt apart and Joey ran up the path to Spinelli cottage without a word to Ashley. Ashley slowly followed him up, to find a woman standing outside Spinelli Cottage with Flo looking at her wearily. This woman was dressed all in black- she had bright green hair and a ring in her nose. She waggled her long, thin, white fingers at Joey.

"Oh my God…" Joey said, staring at her. "What are you doing here, Sophia?"

"I missed you baby," this Sophia said, "And I bet you missed me too, so I thought I'd surprise you!"

She flung her arms around Joey and kissed him, and Ashley could feel her heart breaking into a million pieces. This was turning from the best birthday ever to the worst one...

**So… Spinelli and TJ are together… but how will everyone react to Sophia's arrival?**

**This was my longest chapter… ever! It was 7 pages on MS Word, nearly 8.**

**Reviews please! Thank you.**


	18. Going Downhill

**A/N- glad y'all liked Chapter 17. Do you lot (yep, 'you lot' instead of 'you guys'- my Britishness showing through :D) hate Sophia? If the answer is yes, get ready to hate her more! And those who like the memories of the old gang, there are a few more in this chapter. So without further ado, enjoy Chapter 18!**

"Joseph Spinelli, you have some explaining to do," Flo said, folding her arms. They were all in Spinelli Cottage now- Sophia was in the bath, and the others were in the living room, interrogating Joey.

"She's my girlfriend, we've been together six months, and no, I didn't invite her up here," Joey said. He loved Sophia but he couldn't believe she'd had the cheek to just turn up at Spinelli Cottage without anyone even knowing. From the five suitcases she'd brought with her, it was pretty obvious she was planning on staying. Joey didn't even know how he'd found out where he was, it was like she was some sort of crazed stalker woman. And what bad timing! He was just about to kiss Ashley…

"Then why is she here? Did she appear by magic?" Bob said, sounding just as annoyed as Flo. "People don't just appear by magic, Joey. I appreciate that she's your girlfriend and you wanna spend all your time together, but it's no excuse to just invite her over."

At that point, Sophia came out of the bathroom, wearing a towel over her body and a towel wrapped around her green hair. "Hey guys! Geez Joey, you never told me this damn cottage of yours was so damn small."

Bob, Flo, Spinelli, Ashley and TJ exchanged glances. They'd never felt cramped in the cottage until she arrived.

Finally, Joey spoke up, breaking the awkward silence. "Yeah… uh, it's cosy though… the way we like it."

"Aww, Joey, your family are so adorable!" She said, smiling at them all. "You never told me you had two little sisters and a little brother."

"Uh- I actually have only one sister," Joey said, and Sophia smiled. "Oh! You mean the cute little blond one? She is _adorable_, Joey! She is _so _being a bridesmaid at our wedding."

Joey bit his lip- he hated it when Sophia planned their wedding. Which she did almost all the time. He loved Sophia- for now, but he couldn't imagine having a future with her. He didn't want to think about his future anyway. The future scared him. He lived for the moment.

"I'm not Joey's sister," Ashley said.

"I am," Spinelli said, and the way she was looking at Sophia should have scared her, but Sophia just laughed and ruffled Spinelli's hair. "Look at you! You're so cute. How old are you? Twelve? Thirteen?"

"I'm sixteen. And if you call me cute again you're gonna wish you were never born," Spinelli said, cracking her knuckles menacingly.

"Whatever," Sophia said. "Right, Joey, do I sleep in here?" She pointed to Bob and Flo's room.

"No, that's our room," Bob and Flo said.

"Here?" Sophia said, pointing to TJ and Joey's room.

"No, that's our room," TJ and Joey said.

"Here?" Sophia said, pointing to Spinelli and Ashley's room.

"No, that's our room," Spinelli and Ashley said.

Sophia rolled her eyes, which were the exact same shade of green as her hair. "Well where do you guys expect _me _to sleep, then?"

"Your own house?" Spinelli said, and Sophia opened her mouth to say something, but Joey said, "You can sleep on the couch, Soph."

Sophia shrugged. "Whatever."

* * *

Spinelli, Ashley and TJ noticed that it wasn't as fun with Sophia around. They couldn't go to the beach as often because Sophia didn't want to get a tan, and she kept making Joey stay with her. Which meant no more piggyback wars. Things were awkward between Spinelli and Joey, because they were so close they'd gotten to be overprotective of each other- so Spinelli wasn't happy Joey had a girlfriend, and Joey wasn't happy Spinelli had a boyfriend, even if it _was _TJ.

Ashley found herself getting bored every day. Joey and Sophia didn't go down to the beach, but she, Spinelli and TJ still did, but it wasn't the same without Joey. And Spinelli and TJ kept kissing all the time. Ashley was happy for them, but felt really awkward around them when they did that. Like a spare part. It was weird- she'd never felt like that before.

But she couldn't go in the cottage, either, because Joey and Sophia would be in there. She hated it because they only ever watched disgusting, gory horror movies, and because they would be cuddled up together on the couch. Ashley didn't even know which one made her more sick.

Ashley could tell Bob and Flo weren't too keen on Sophia either. The day after Ashley's birthday, she took a packet of cigarettes and a lighter out of her pocket.

Flo had put her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing?"

And Sophia had replied, "Duh, I've got fags in one hand and a lighter in another hand- what does it _look _like I'm doing?"

"Don't talk to my mom like that," Spinelli said with a low voice.

"I'll do what I want, and you stay out of this, brat," Sophia said, stomping outside to smoke.

Joey had appeared, and then Flo said, "You don't smoke too, do you?"

"Course not!" Joey said.

Flo put her hands on her hips. "So she's got green hair and she's a smoker… and she swears all the time… what else does she do, Joey?"

"Mom, is it any of your business what she 'does'?"

"Yes, because you're my son and I don't want her to be a bad influence on you!"

"Are you ever gonna stop treating me like a kid and trust me?" Joey yelled, storming out of the cottage.

One afternoon, Ashley went for a walk around the beach on her own. It was what she did when she was stressed. Listening to the sounds of the waves really calmed her down. She loved being alone on the beach…

But then she realised. Someone else was on the beach. Talking on a cell phone.

Sophia.

"God, X, it is _so _boring here. There are no clubs anywhere. There aren't even any _shops_, or other houses or anything. I haven't even seen any other people apart from them. His family? Ugh. His parents are so boring, they don't even let me smoke in the house. Then he has this bratty little sister- I tried being nice to her but she's just a total dork… it's pathetic, she keeps trying to be tough, quite funny really." Ashley A put in her iPod headphones so it looked like she couldn't hear Sophia's conversation, but really she could hear everything.

"Yeah… I don't really like him that much. He's nothing special I'm only dating him coz that Kim girl wants him! I love seeing the look on her face when I kiss him in front of her. And the funny thing is he actually thinks I'm crazy about him... he's falling for me too, I keep talking about marriage and kids and he hasn't even run a mile yet. He's _so _easy to trick. Seriously, Kim is _so_ jealous. Alright… love you too, X. Bye!"

Ashley quickly ran up the path to Spinelli Cottage so Sophia wouldn't see her. She made a beeline for Joey's room, where Joey was sitting on his bed, strumming a random tune on his black bass guitar. He looked up and smiled when he saw Ashley. "Hey Ash… you alright?"

"Joey, I need to tell you something," Ashley said, taking a deep breath. "Sophia's using you to make someone else jealous. And she's cheating on you."

Joey's eyes widened in disbelief, but then he said, "Nah. She wouldn't do something like that."

"But- I just heard her, talking on the phone to some guy named X, and she said-"

"Wait- you were listening in on her phone calls?!" Joey said, suddenly sounding angry.

"Well- I wasn't exactly listening in, I just couldn't help overhearing-" Ashley said- it was true, but Joey wasn't having any of it.

"You know what, Ashley?!" Joey said. "I think you're jealous because you want me for yourself."

"I do not want you for myself!" Ashley lied. She could feel herself blushing. When she was in the Ashleys, she was quite a good liar, but now she'd been hanging out with honest people for a few months, that trait had gone.

"Don't lie, if you don't like me then why did you try to kiss me after the barbeque?"

"You tried to kiss _me_!"

"No I didn't, it was you! And I think you're an extremely immature little brat who needs to get a life. Now get out of my room."

Ashley left Joey's room in floods of tears, slamming the door behind her. She dived onto her bed and sobbed into her pillow for a while. Why wouldn't Joey believe her?

She sat up and looked out of her window. She saw Spinelli and TJ out on the beach, kissing. Spinelli was planning on telling her parents about her and TJ that night. Ashley sighed and turned away from the window. It hurt too much to look at Spinelli and TJ. Because whenever she looked at them, she saw how TJ looked at Spinelli adoringly, and it just broke her to think that Joey would never look at her like that. He would never love her if he couldn't even trust her.

The weirdest thing was, though, that Ashley thought that she was actually in with a chance. When she was in the Ashleys, she could get any guy she wanted. She'd dated half the popular guys, even the older ones liked her. Lawson was a year older than her…

Lawson.

Suddenly, the words he'd said to her in that online conversation flashed over and over again in her head. That guys only liked her when she was rich.

Ashley was so angry she punched her pillow, pretending it was Lawson, pretending it was Joey, pretending it was every guy she'd ever known for being so shallow. Why did guys only want girls because of money, looks, popularity or fame? Why couldn't they get to know the real girl inside and make her feel like the most special girl in the world? Why did they have to break other girls' hearts just because they weren't rich or hot or popular or famous?

She hated everyone. She hated Joey for not loving or trusting her. She hated Sophia because Joey loved her but she was using him. She even hated Spinelli and TJ because they'd both found the right person, someone who would make them feel special and someone who wouldn't use them.

And she hated this place. Sophia's arrival had made her stop loving Spinelli Cottage and start hating it. Why? Because everyone was happily sorted into perfect little couples. Bob and Flo, Spinelli and TJ, Joey and Sophia… everything was so nice and tidy and perfect. Except from her. The one no one wanted. The odd one out.

Ashley had to get away from this place. It was driving her mad… slowly, but surely, she was going insane. She packed all her stuff into a bag and wrote a little note: _Bob and Flo- thank you for all you've done, but I know I don't fit in here, just like I don't fit in anywhere. But I'll never forget you. Goodbye. Ashley Armbuster x_

She folded the note up, left it on her bed and went. No one even noticed her go- the two young couples were too busy making out, and Bob and Flo were hanging up some washing. Even Sparky and Paris didn't notice, they were asleep on the couch. Still, no one would miss her.

Ashley walked. She walked for miles and miles and miles, not knowing where she was going, not caring. Would anyone care where she was going? Of course not. No one would care if she was dead or alive.

* * *

Back at Spinelli Cottage, Spinelli and TJ were sitting on Spinelli's bed, **(A/N- no guys, there isn't gonna be a dirty scene here… I don't really like writing that kinda stuff.) **looking at a photo album from their days at Third Street.

"Hey, that's from the time you and Vince cut everyone's hair!" Spinelli said, pointing to one picture of three guys with the most awful hairstyles imaginable.

TJ laughed. "God, I'd forgotten how bad those haircuts actually were. Hey Spin, there's a picture of you and Mikey at that dance concert!"

"Oh yeah!" Spinelli said, remembering the time her mom had made her get dance lessons to get more feminine, and she'd discovered she was actually quite good at dance, and she and Mikey had performed in front of the whole school, who loved it.

"And there's Mikey dressed like Vince!" Spinelli said, pointing at a picture of Mikey in athletic clothes with his hair curled, laughing. Mikey looked ridiculous.

"Oh yeah, when he started copying Vince. Man, Vince got annoyed," TJ said, chuckling.

"We should get Mikey to copy everything he does again, Vince is such a jerk now," Spinelli said. "He's so- hey, what's this?" She had noticed the note on Ashley's bed. She went over and unfolded the note.

"Oh no…"

* * *

It was nightfall now. The sky was dark and starry. Ashley was in a town, a town she didn't recognise, but it was a very busy town. There were bars and clubs everywhere, and drunks stumbled around the streets.

Ashley could feel someone staring at her, and she saw a middle-aged, creepy looking drunk man hitting on her. He called out, "Hey, babe! You got a name?" as she walked past him. Ashley shuddered and walked faster, completely ignoring him, but the man followed her. Panicking, Ashley started to run, down three streets and into the road...

BAM.

A car hit her and she instantly blacked out.

**ANOTHER evil 'is she dead? is she not?' cliffie! Haha, you guys love them really :P**

**Review? Pretty pretty please with a cherry on top? See, I asked nicely! :D**


	19. The Decision

**I can't believe I have 30 reviews!! :O :D This is AMAZING!! So thank you for each and every one of them!! I never thought one of my stories was gonna get so many reviews and this really means a lot to me.**

**I'm sorry I haven't been able to get this chapter up as soon as I'd have liked. Damn writer's block… that's all I'm gonna say.**

**I'll let you find out what happened to Ashley :)**

**- Rach xx**

"What's going on?!" Joey asked, rushing into Spinelli and Ashley's room, where Bob, Flo and TJ were all crowded around Spinelli; Spinelli had a note in her hands and all four of them were reading the note again and again, looking more and more stressed.

"Ashley's run away," TJ said, and Joey's heart sank, remembering his harsh last words to her. What if anything bad had happened to her? He could picture her now, wandering the dark streets… lost… cold… hungry… scared… alone. Or even worse… hurt, unconscious or dead.

Then Joey realised something which made the situation a thousand times worse: it was his fault.

_Of course it's not your fault, Joey,_ he thought to himself, but then he remembered that Ashley had seemed quite happy until he'd said those stupid things to her in his room. She would have had no other reason to run away. Joey sighed, feeling terrible.

Sophia appeared, chewing gum. "Hey Joey, wanna play Guitar Hero?"

Joey, Spinelli, TJ, Bob and Flo all glared at her as if to say _do we _look_ like we're in the mood for Guitar Hero?_

"My God guys, I was only asking, don't have a cow." Sophia snapped. "Hey, where's that blond one?"

* * *

Ashley found herself in a big, white room. She looked down to see she was wearing a long, white, floaty dress. "Am I dead?!" she whispered to herself.

"No," a voice behind Ashley said, startling her. "You are not dead."

Ashley turned around to see another girl in white- the girl was quite a bit shorter than Ashley and had blond hair and blue eyes. She looked just like Ashley but a few years younger.

Her sister.

"But Brittany… if I'm dead… why are you here? I mean… you're dead," Ashley said, staring at her dead sister in shock.

"I know. You're unconscious. And I'm here to help you make a _very _important decision."

"What decision?" Ashley asked, confused.

Brittany simply extended out her hand. "Come with me."

* * *

Joey was in his car, driving. He was going over the speed limit but for once he didn't care. He _had _to find Ashley before it was too late.

They'd all gone looking for Ashley- Bob, Flo, Spinelli and TJ in Bob's car, and Joey was in his car, heading in the opposite direction with Sophia, who was sat in the passenger seat, chewing gum and casually applying black eyeliner. She was acting like nothing was going on.

"Oh, God, this song bites!" She said, skipping the radio stations. She played about with the radio for a moment before Joey finally snapped. "Just leave it on one station. Or better still, turn the damn thing off completely."

"Take a chill pill!" Sophia said, but she left the radio alone. "D'you want some gum?"

"All I want right now is to find Ashley alive and well," Joey said, getting fed up of her. Did she not care about Ashley at all?

No. She didn't. Just like she didn't care about anyone. Just herself.

Did she even care about him? If what Ashley had said was true, then she didn't. But who did he trust more? Ashley or Sophia? He'd known Sophia for a year. And they were boyfriend and girlfriend. But how much did he really _know _Sophia? All she ever talked about was her hair and her band and how much she hated some girl called Kim. She occasionally threw in some marriage talk, but she wasn't putting her heart and soul into it.

Joey wanted love. He wanted to be head over heels. He wanted his heart to skip a beat every time that special someone locked eyes with him. He wanted his woman to make _him _feel special. He wanted sparks every time they kissed.

What he wanted more than any of that, though, was someone he could trust. Someone he could pour out his heart and soul to. With Sophia, he didn't feel like he could do that. There were things he felt like he couldn't tell Sophia without her laughing in his face or making a snide remark about it- like the fact that he didn't have his first kiss until age seventeen, he used to have a crush on one of his female teachers and he was scared of death.

But he could tell Ashley everything. He really enjoyed the early-morning chats they had on the sofa at Spinelli Cottage. They talked about literally everything. Sometimes they spouted random nonsense that had them crying with laughter. And other times they spilled their secrets. Ashley knew all the stuff that Joey felt too embarrassed to tell Sophia. And Joey knew all that about Ashley's family, and he knew how upset she still was about it, even though she was happy with the Spinellis and had adapted well to the Spinelli lifestyle.

"Hey baby, what colour should I dye my hair for next semester?" Sophia asked, pouting at her green-haired reflection in the car's wing mirror. "Blue? Purple? Pink? Red? Shave it all off?"

"I don't give a damn about your hair," Joey said.

"But baby, you're my boyfriend!" Sophia whined. The tone of her voice went right through Joey.

"Was," was all Joey said.

"Baby, what do you mean?" Sophia whined.

Joey stopped the car. "You know what I mean. It's over. You're dumped. I'm taking you back to the cottage and you can pick up your stuff and go home."

To Joey's surprise, Sophia just shrugged. "Whatever. That cottage was boring me to death anyway. Your mom sure is boring, not even letting me smoke in there."

Joey thought, _if she's being so casual about it, then she was never serious about me in the first place. Maybe Ashley was right. Maybe she was just using me. Oh God, why didn't I listen to her?!_

She got out a packet of cigarettes but Joey took it off her. "You aren't smoking in my car."

"I'll do what the hell I want," Sophia snapped.

"Get out of my car, you can walk to get your stuff."

"What?! It's miles away!"

"I said GET OUT OF MY CAR!!" Joey yelled, and Sophia rolled her eyes. "Keep your hair on!" she said, rolling her eyes whilst she got out of the car and slammed the door. Joey too rolled his eyes- she was so immature. But he couldn't dwell on that. He had to find Ashley.

* * *

Brittany lead Ashley down a long, white corridor. The walls and floor were white, and all the doors along the corridor were also white. _I must be dead,_ Ashley thought. _Brittany's here and everything's white. Telling me I'm not dead is probably Brittany's idea of a joke._

Brittany opened one of the white doors which was, of course, another white room. It reminded Ashley of her old living room at Armbuster Manor- white walls, white sofa… three blond figures dressed in white formal clothing sitting on that sofa.

Ashley did a double take. "Mom? Dad? Tyler?!"

Mr. Armbuster smiled at Ashley. "Ah, hello, darling," he said, sipping some herbal tea.

"Sit down, dear," Mrs. Armbuster instructed, and Ashley sat down next to her mother on one of the white sofas, Brittany sitting at her other side.

"Where am I?" Ashley asked.

"Duh, what does it look like?" Tyler said rudely and Ashley rolled her eyes; death had not changed him.

"Ignore him," Mrs. Armbuster said, smiling. "You're in heaven, darling."

Ashley's blue eyes almost popped out of her head in shock. "Heaven?! But-" Ashley looked at Brittany accusingly. "You said I wasn't dead!"

Brittany rolled her eyes. "You're not, _stupid_." Death hadn't changed her either. "If you'd been listening earlier, then you'd know that you're here to make an important choice."

"Probably the most important choice you'll ever make," Mrs. Armbuster said, and Mr. Armbuster nodded.

"You are actually in a coma, you got hit by a car, and you're in hospital, in intensive care," he said.

"Omigod!! Will I be OK?!" Ashley shrieked, and Tyler said, "Well, that's what you're going to decide." And the other three Armbusters nodded in agreement.

Ashley bit her lip. She couldn't believe her family- who were supposed to be dead- were making her choose between life and death. She had no idea how to make a choice like this!

"How do you expect me to choose something like that?!" Ashley demanded, but Brittany laughed. "We're going to _help _you choose."

"How?" Ashley asked, and Tyler laughed. "You _are _stupid, Ashley. We're going to give you a taster of this place, and if you like it, then we can make sure you die painlessly."

Ashley opened her mouth, not liking the sound of dying at all, but then she closed it again. There wasn't exactly much for her on Earth. No one trusted her, and no guy would ever love her, so what was the point?

"I'll give it a try, then," Ashley said, hating to think that for once her idiot brother was right. It was a pretty good idea. Most people didn't even get a choice in their own death, so it seemed OK to her.

But she was glad just to see her family again.

"Ashley, you look tired," Brittany said, getting up off the sofa. "You look like you need to relax."

"Well yeah, I suppose-" Ashley's words were cut off by a golden hot tub suddenly appearing. Brittany laughed at Ashley's shocked expression, her white dress was gone, a white bikini taking it's place.

The hot tub started to fill up with warm, bubbly water. Brittany climbed in and smiled at Ashley; her dress also turned into a white bikini. Ashley joined her sister in the hot tub and let out an "ahh", the hot tub was extremely relaxing. _I've missed being rich,_ Ashley thought.

Brittany grinned. "You thirsty?"

"A little," Ashley said, and out of nowhere two smoothies appeared- one strawberry and one banana. Ashley was amazed- strawberry was her favourite flavour and banana was Brittany's.

Brittany grabbed both of them, passed the strawberry one to Ashley and started to drink her banana one. Ashley drank her smoothie- it was the best thing she'd ever tasted.

"I feel a little music is in order," Tyler said from the couch, and suddenly a band appeared. Ashley didn't know the band, but when they started playing, it was the best song she'd ever heard. This place was like paradise- wait, it was _supposed _to be paradise.

"This place is amazing," Ashley gasped, trying hard to take it all in. "It's like- you get what you want, whenever you want it, all the time."

Brittany smirked. "Yeah, that's basically the point. Isn't it wonderful?"

Ashley smiled, it was wonderful, but there was a void. Something was missing, and she couldn't possibly put her finger on it.

But what could be missing? She was in a warm, relaxing hot tub, listening to amazing live music, enjoying a delicious smoothie and to top it all off, she was with her family…

Or was she?

Ashley thought back to her first day of kindergarten…

_Harold opened the door for a five-year-old Ashley Armbuster, who smiled at him; there were several gaps in her smile as she had just started to lose her baby teeth._

"_Thanks, Harold!" She said cheerfully, getting out of the expensive car. She was wearing a purple dress and holding a picture. It was this picture that she was feeling so cheerful about._

_Their kindergarten teacher, Miss Finster, had said to them, "Alright class, I want you to draw a nice picture of your family." And Ashley had worked really hard. She'd drawn herself with her mother and father, her three-year-old brother Tyler and baby sister Brittany, who had just had her first birthday. They were really all just blobs with eyes and huge red smiles, but it was a great effort for Ashley, and she was desperate to show it to her daddy._

_She ran up the path leading to her huge mansion and found her daddy in his study, sitting at his desk, on the phone- as usual._

_She ran up to him, waving the picture. "Daddy, daddy, daddy! Look what I drew!!"_

_She put the drawing up on her dad's desk for him to look at, but he just pushed it away and ignored her completely. "No, Mr. Brown, we need them _tomorrow_!"_

_Ashley tried to get her daddy's attention for ages, but her dad just talked on the phone, ignoring her completely. He didn't even look at her- he didn't even acknowledge that she was there, or that she'd drawn him a picture._

_Ashley grabbed the picture and tore it up into tiny shreds, stomping off to her room in tears._

Ashley sighed, remembering it all. As much as she regretted it after they all were killed, they never made time for each other. Ashley hardly ever saw her parents, they worked so much. And her, Tyler and Brittany were probably too busy being popular and stuck-up to make time for each other. The person she saw the most was probably Harold the butler, who she just saw as someone to order around all the time.

Her and the other Armbusters might have had the same DNA, or the same last name, but they weren't her real family. She didn't belong with them. She belonged with the Spinellis. She belonged on Earth.

She bit her lip; she'd miss her parents, Tyler and Brittany, but she would see them again. In around seventy years or so, when she died, she would see them again. If she chose to die now, she wouldn't see the Spinellis again and she wouldn't have a chance to do all the things she'd wanted to do on Earth, like her prom night, becoming a model, falling in love…

"I've made up my mind," Ashley announced, a smile spreading over her face. "Thanks for the offer and everything, but I'm not ready to die yet. I want to go back to Earth."

**OK, sorry if you didn't get that chapter, and sorry if you didn't think it was worth the wait. I **_**think **_**this story is going to end soon ****(sob), as in I'm going to write one more chapter or something, but twenty chapters should be enough. And I don't know for sure if that'll be the case. This story has a mind of it's own. And thank you for all the reviews!! When I first joined fanfic I never dreamed that any story of mine would get 30 reviews, so thank you so much!!**


	20. Florence Dawn

**A/N- the long awaited last chapter! So I made it 7 MS Word pages long for you! I hope you enjoy it. **

**As this is the last chapter I shall make a big speech like I've just won an Oscar- thank you to EVERYONE who has read, alerted or favourited this story, and the people who have favourited me. I would like to say a double thankyou to IndusLotus2001, LaughALife, lozzard-wellard, Jayla Starlight, StarReader86, ShadowDog34, tj/spin fan, paupi121 and Princesakarlita411 for reviewing!! You guys rule!! I have been overjoyed to get so many positive reviews. And a big thank you to anyone who reviews now when this story is finished!**

The next morning, with Sophia out of the cottage and out of Joey's life, Spinelli should have been much more happy. But she wasn't. She was worried sick about Ashley. Everyone was.

There was an awkward atmosphere hanging over Spinelli, Joey, TJ, Bob and Flo as they watched the morning news. They had got in touch with the police, who had said would help them out, but Spinelli knew that some people went missing and weren't found for years, even if everyone in the world helped. She sighed; they were _never _going to find Ashley.

There was something about Ashley on the news. Her picture came on the screen next to the grey-haired newsreader, with a caption underneath it that said 'Missing Teenager'.

"Ashley Armbuster is sixteen and thought to have run away because of a disagreement with her foster brother," the newsreader read out. Spinelli glared at Joey, her idiot brother; he'd told them all why he thought she'd ran away, and it was all his fault. Maybe if it wasn't for him Ashley would still be here. Alive and well and safe.

Joey felt Spinelli glaring at him and tried to ignore it, but he was feeling really guilty. He knew she was right. That it was his fault. And he wished he could go back to yesterday and change that.

Spinelli suddenly turned the TV off. "I can't watch that anymore," Spinelli said, and she stormed off to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Joey, TJ, Bob and Flo sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, none of them knowing whether or not to look at each other. All four of them leapt up when the phone rang.

"I'll answer it!" they all said, but Bob got there first.

"Hello?!" he said, and then his eyes lit up, but then he looked worried, and then relieved. "OK- thank you so much, officer. We'll be on our way. Thank you."

He hung up. "They've found Ashley," he said, and Joey sighed, a sigh of relief. His face split into a huge grin. "Yes! That's great news!"

"Where was she?" TJ asked.

"Is she OK?" Flo asked seriously, and Joey and TJ's faces fell- Bob hadn't said in what state Ashley had been found in. She could still be hurt. She could still be dead.

"She was in a town about thirty miles from here, and she got run over by a car," Bob said grimly.

Joey's heart sank. Just because he didn't want to think his girlfriend had cheated on him, the girl he thought he was falling in love with could have died. "Oh my God, is she-"

"She's in hospital, and she's just woke up from her coma, and at first the doctors said she'd only survive if she had a blood transplant. They've found two donors, though, and they have the same blood type as her. They're giving their blood today."

Bob drove them all to the hospital to see Ashley- and Spinelli was shocked to see Ashley Q. in the hospital waiting room.

"What are _you _doing here?!" Spinelli said to her in disgust, and Ashley Q. blushed a little.

"Uh- Ashley T. and I heard about what happened to Ashley A, and we came to donate our blood," Ashley Q. said. "I've just had my transplant, and Ashley T's getting hers as we speak."

"Oh yeah- I heard you and Ashley T. were trying to get Ashley B. to kick you out of the Ashleys," TJ said, jamming his hands in his pockets.

Ashley Q. shook her head. "No TJ… well, that's true, but we're not doing this so Ashley B. will kick us out of the Ashleys. We're doing this because we want to help Ashley A."

Spinelli was stunned. "Whoa… so that means _three of you _are nice?!"

Ashley Q. smiled. "Seems that way."

Ashley T. came out and smiled at them all. "Hi, guys… Spinelli, TJ, I am really sorry about what happened to Ashley A, and I really hope she makes a full recovery."

"Thanks, Ashley T, and I think she'll be OK. Thanks for giving your blood," Spinelli said, smiling. She really didn't expect Ashley Q. and Ashley T. to do something so nice for Ashley A, especially after the scene in the cafeteria when she was thrown out of the Ashleys.

"We're really sorry we humiliated her in front of the whole school," Ashley Q. said, and Ashley T. nodded. "We're really ashamed about that. And sorry we were such stuck-up bitches to you before."

Spinelli laughed. "No hard feelings. And I'm sorry for all the crummy stuff we've done over time. Like that time in fourth grade we replaced the Ashley flag on the Ashley clubhouse with a pair of pants."

Ashley Q. and Ashley T. actually _laughed._ "No hard feelings," they repeated.

Ashley Q. and Ashley T. exchanged cell phone numbers with Spinelli and TJ before they left the hospital a few moments later, **(A/N- I know you're not allowed to use phones in hospital, but they could have wrote them down on pieces of paper or something.) **and Spinelli, TJ, Bob and Flo made their way to the intensive care unit to visit Ashley.

Spinelli remembered the last time she was down here, visiting TJ. When he'd first brought up that awkward business of what she'd said to him before he blacked out in the toy store. And after that there was that awful phone call and that horrible period where they didn't talk at all. TJ's words to Spinelli really hurt her, and now they were together Spinelli had just wished she hadn't put off telling the truth, because she hated it when TJ was hurt.

Remembering all that made her realise how lucky she was to have TJ in her life. She slipped her hand in TJ's. "I'll always love you," she whispered, and he just smiled and squeezed her hand, but it was good enough for her. It was enough for her to know that he loved her, and he was always there.

Bob and Flo smiled fondly at them despite each other; they'd known since their kids were little that they were soulmates, destined to spend the rest of their lives together.

They went into intensive care to find Ashley in a hospital bed wired up to a heart monitor. She looked very weak, but managed a genuine looking smile when she saw her family had come to see her. Joey's heart melted as he thought to himself how beautiful Ashley looked, even when she was weak and frail and on life support.

"I'm… sorry." Ashley said to them all. "I was… stupid…"

"No you weren't," Flo said soothingly. Spinelli opened her mouth to say 'Joey was', but Bob, almost guessing that she would say something like that, flashed her a warning look and Spinelli quickly bit her lip to stop her from saying anything.

"We were worried sick," Bob said thickly, like he was trying not to cry- and it all made Ashley wonder if her biological family would be this upset if they were alive now.

But if they were alive now, she wouldn't be living with the Spinellis. She wouldn't be friends with Spinelli, TJ and their friends. She would still be a spoilt brat. She wouldn't have met Joey. And she wouldn't have been loved, by anyone.

When she ran away, she thought that she was unwanted and unloved, but now she saw that a lot of people cared about her: Bob, Flo, Spinelli, TJ, Sam, Dave, Ruby… even Ashley T. and Ashley Q, who had surprisingly donated the blood she needed to stay alive.

But did Joey? Ashley noticed he was looking pretty awkward, hanging on the edge of the group, not saying anything and trying not to meet Ashley's eyes. Ashley noticed Sophia wasn't among the group- she would probably still be at Spinelli Cottage, snoring loudly on the couch.

Joey sighed. He needed to talk to Ashley- without the others around. But what if she wouldn't forgive him?

Luckily, Spinelli said, "I need the bathroom," and Flo said, "So do I." Then Bob and TJ went off to get some coffee and doughnuts. Leaving Joey and Ashley alone together.

There was an awkward silence as Joey and Ashley tried not to look at each other. Then both of them blurted out, "I'm sorry!" at the same time.

Joey's eyes narrowed. "What are you sorry for? You have nothing to be sorry about."

"For running away- I really am immature."

"Yeah, you should be sorry, I was worried sick!" Joey snapped in a brotherly tone. He bit his lip. "We all were," he added, more gently.

"I'm sorry."

"It's OK. Anyone can make mistakes. I made a lot of mistakes- stupid mistakes," Joey said, sighing, remembering everything he'd said to Ashley. "I didn't mean any of that stuff, I just… I guess I didn't want to believe my girlfriend was using me."

"It's OK." Ashley said, sighing. "I kind of understand… I mean, I didn't want to think my ex boyfriend was right when he said guys only liked me because I was rich."

"That's not true!" Joey said, anger bubbling up inside him, anger towards Ashley's idiot ex for saying something like that. Ashley was beautiful, and she had an amazing personality, and Joey couldn't believe anyone would be so shallow and make her feel so down.

Ashley sighed. She knew Joey was lying to try and make her feel better. "You're just lying to make me feel better," she said. "You don't have to be nice to me just because I'm in hospital, you know."

"I'm not lying to make you feel better, and I'm being nice to you not because you're in hospital but because you're an amazing person and you deserve it," Joey said, and Ashley wondered if he really meant it. She looked into his eyes- they looked sincere.

"Trust me," Joey added, when he saw Ashley's doubtful expression.

"Oh yeah? Like you didn't trust me?!" Ashley said, then, after realising what she said, clapped her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, but I did," Joey said, smiling. "I dumped Sophia." Joey was surprised to see how happy Ashley looked when he'd said that- did that mean that she liked him? He hoped so. He smirked. "Personally, I think I would have dumped her anyway. She was a total bitch. So selfish."

"I never really liked her much," Ashley said.

"Why are you looking so happy now you know I've dumped her?" Joey asked, and Ashley blushed. "You know… because I want you to be happy, and I know that she can't make you happy, because she was using you and chea…" Ashley didn't get a chance to say "-ting on you," because Joey suddenly kissed her. Ashley was amazed- she didn't see that coming at all. **(A/N- but I bet you guys did!! Haha, my stories are so predictable :P) **

"Is there something you should tell us?" a voice said. Cringing, Ashley and Joey came apart, and saw Flo and Spinelli, back from the bathroom. Spinelli was smirking but Flo was smiling happily.

Ashley looked at Joey, confused. "Is there?" There must have been some reason he'd just kissed her. People didn't kiss each other for no reason. It must have meant that he liked her. And she liked him, so why shouldn't they be more than just friends?

"Well, if there was, then I would like that a lot," Joey said, his eyes twinkling. "You're beautiful and you're kind and you're funny and when I'm with you it just feels right. That kiss was among the most amazing moments of my life, and I want more amazing moments like that with you. I'm still young and I've only known you for a few weeks, but I would be more than happy to spend the rest of my life with you." Joey blushed, knowing he sounded like such an idiot. What on earth would Ashley say?

Ashley smiled, her blue eyes filling with tears. She was touched- no one had ever said anything so nice to her before. "Wow…" was all she could say. "I didn't know you were so romantic."

"Uh- yeah." Joey said, looking at his feet. "I guess what I'm trying to say is will you go out with me, but instead I'm coming out with a load of goo that'll make you think I'm an idiot."

"Number one, you're _not _an idiot. Number two, that was the best way of asking someone out I've ever heard. It was beautiful and romantic and much better than how my ex boyfriend asked me out."

"Lawson? How'd he ask you out?" Spinelli asked, and Ashley jumped- she'd forgotten she and Flo were there, and by now Bob and TJ were back too.

"He said to me, 'I'm hot, you're hot, let's go out'," Ashley said, pulling a quick sick face at Spinelli and turning back around to face Joey.

"And three," Ashley said, "… of course I'll go out with you."

And as Ashley and Joey kissed for the second time, Ashley knew she'd made the right choice in staying alive.

* * *

"And that's how your mom and I got together," Joey said to his three kids, who were all sat on his knee, smiling up at him.

It was ten years later- Joey and Ashley Spinelli had been married seven years and were expecting their fourth child. Ashley was a fashion designer and Joey was a music teacher at the high school.

Joey and Ashley's oldest son, Robert Joseph, was six, a first grader at Third Street School. Their other two kids hadn't started Third Street yet- Tyler Theodore and Brittany Ashley were three-year-old twins, and Ashley was eight and a half months pregnant with their fourth (and probably final) child.

TJ and Spinelli lived just down the road from them; TJ was the fourth grade teacher at Third Street School and Spinelli was a comic book artist. Spinelli's official name was now Mrs. Ashley Detweiler, but her close family and friends still called her Spinelli- apart from three children who called her Mom. TJ and Spinelli had a daughter and two sons- Rebecca Ruby Gretchen was four, Gustav Michael Vincent was two and Vito Samuel David was six months.

Bob and Flo, who were aging gracefully, had retired and loved taking care of their grandchildren.

The old gang had reunited two years ago when Vince married Gretchen. Vince was no longer the jerk he was in high school- he was a professional basketball player and had his own restaurant. Gretchen worked at NASA. Mikey was a famous actor and poet, and Gus had spent his teenage years in England, but was now back in America and in the Army. Also Sam and Dave were archaeologists, Ruby owned a sweetshop and Jimmy Cratmer went on to win the lottery. Ashley T. and Ashley Q. quit the Ashleys after saving Ashley's life and remained quite good friends with Ashley, Spinelli, Joey and TJ- Ashley Q. was a midwife and Ashley T. was the kindergarten teacher at Third Street. Ashley B. was neither rich or famous- her family's business had gone down the toilet, and she was a football player's wife a few years back, but he left her for her sister Brittany B, and no one had a clue who she was.

Suddenly, Ashley sat up in her armchair. "Joey… I think I'm going into labour!"

It was true- Ashley's waters had broken. "OK- Robert, can you take Brittany and Tyler to your Aunt Spinelli's and Uncle TJ's house? Just tell them your mom's having her baby and you need them to look after you."

"OK," Robert said, smiling- he loved being the oldest because he got to do all the important stuff. He held his brother and sister's hands and ran off to Spinelli and TJ's house.

Joey and Ashley hurried over to Joey's car and drove to the hospital, Ashley screaming. Joey bit his lip, hating to see the love of his life in pain.

They got to the hospital and four hours later, Ashley was lying on the bed in terrible pain, even though she was no stranger to childbirth, and Joey was sure that if his wife squeezed his hand any tighter it would snap off.

Luckily, their midwife, Ashley Q, said, "Come on, one more push, you're doing great!"

Ashley Q. delivered their baby and Ashley smiled- labour was painful, but it was always worth it in the end.

"Congratulations, you have a beautiful daughter," Ashley Q. said, and Ashley smiled. She'd wanted a girly little daughter- Brittany was a feisty little tomboy like her aunt.

"Well done baby, I'm so proud of you," Joey whispered as Ashley beamed at him.

"Would you like to hold her?" Ashley Q. asked, gently passing the new baby to Joey, who held her in his strong arms, looking down at her, brown eyes filling with tears. Tears of joy and pride.

"She needs a name," Joey said. "Are we going with Florence?"

Ashley nodded, smiling. They named their kids after family and close friends.

"She needs a middle name too," Joey said.

"Yeah, and I've had an idea for her middle name," Ashley said.

"What is it, sweetheart?" Joey asked, and Ashley smiled. "Dawn," she said. "Because it was dawn when we first met."

"Florence Dawn…" Joey said the words like they were a magic spell, smiling, remembering that magical dawn when he and Ashley first met. He wondered how he lived without her. He looked into the eyes of his beautiful baby daughter. If she looked anything like her mother, then she would be beautiful when she was older. If any boy ever loved her half as much as he loved Ashley, then she would be lucky. "I like it."

He remembered reading somewhere that in the world, there were around 14 babies born every second. He thought of all the other thirteen men who had just became fathers. Maybe some would be fathers for the first time. He was so nervous when Ashley was pregnant with Robert, but the minute he was born, Joey knew he was ready to be a dad. Maybe a few others would be like him- they had other children. And some of the dads maybe didn't even know that they _were _dads now.

"I promise you, I'll be there for you, whenever you need me," Joey whispered, planting a gentle kiss on his daughter's forehead. Her skin was soft, her eyes were a beautiful shade of blue- everything about her was perfect.

Joey smiled. "I'll always love you, Florence Dawn Spinelli."

**Sorry if you didn't like the ending. I'm rubbish at endings!! Anyway, hope you enjoyed my story- as I'm back at school and Year 9 is quite a big year for me, I won't be as quick with updates but keep a lookout for my next story! Love you all! –Rach xx**


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